Confrontations at a Lake
by PadmeKenobi
Summary: When Padme meets a strange man named ObiWan who absolutely infuriates her, why does she keep coming back? Will eventually become Obidala. AU.
1. Unexpected Meetings

(A/N: This story was written by myself, and Obi-Wan (ObiKenobi on Actually, it was an rp that we were..rping, and it was so good, that I just HAD to copy and paste it into a word document. So, everything we did and said was true, it was all in the rp. All I did was format it into a story. Enjoy!)

**Confrontations at a Lake**.

Chapter One – Unexpected Meeting

It was a sunny morning. A beautiful morning, to be out in the forest, just sitting here, and listening. Padme Naberrie smiled, and pulled her under-garments off, and pulled her outer dress up to her thighs, and sat down on the edge of the ground, settling her feet in the water, smiling at how good it felt. She had been there a good few minutes, when suddenly a man came out of the trees. He started to undress, and she looked down quickly, figuring out that he meant to go for a swim. She sat there as still as possible, and wished she couldn't be seen.

Obi-Wan Kenobi fit his shirt back on, after he had realized that there was a girl/woman sitting on the bank to his right. He smiles and walks over to her, stopping about 10 steps away.

"Morning." He answered simply, at ease, as if there always was a girl watching him every morning while he was getting undressed. Padme looked up, and suddenly wished that her dress wasn't so high up, nor that her inner coats that she had worn were lying out in the open. She couldn't help but blush and she stood up straight, making sure to cover her legs.

"Morning…" She mentally kicked herself as she noticed that she had subconsciously been playing with a piece of her dress, and she looked at the ground and then back up. Obi-Wan smiled again and watched her.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself this early?"

Padme tilted her head and looked at him.

"I could ask the same of you."

Obi-Wan nodded, the smile still on his face.

"Yes you could. I'm just taking a swim, that's all. What about you?"

Padme shrugged. "I'm just sittin' here, I do this every morning. Just sit and listen." She paused. "How come I've never seen you before?"

"I come here almost every morning too. How can we not have met each other, if we're using such a small lake at the same time?"

"Maybe we go at different times?" Padme suggested.

Obi-Wan looked unconvinced.

"Hmm, probably. I never really get up at the same time every day, so I probably always just missed you."

Padme smiled, wishing she knew what to say, instead of standing here, feeling like an idiot…

Obi-Wan watched her, amused.

"Well…mind if I join you?"

Padme smiled. "No, not at all." She sat down again, and found herself in a comfortable silence with this man, as soon as he had sat down, putting his own feet in the water, even though she had no idea who he was.

"So..what's your name?" She asked, looking at him.

"Well, you're probably going to run away from me, but I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi." He watched her, looking at her cautiously. Padme frowned.

"Why would I run away from you…? Nice to meet you, by the way, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm Padme Naberrie." She smiled sweetly.

She sat there and noticed that he had breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nice to meet you too."

She watched him closely, giving him that piercing stare she has.

"Now, tell me, why would I run away from you."

"Ohh, most people just don't like me, that's all." Obi-Wan answered, meeting her gaze easily, and noticed that she wasn't satisfied.

"I don't believe that." Padme answered bluntly.

"And why not?" He asked, staring at her expectantly.

Padme raised her eyebrow in question.

"Why would I."

"Because…it's true. Most people just had a disliking for me." He retorted.

Padme sighed.

"The almost first thing you said to me was that I would run away from you, a **telltale** sign that you have something to hide?" Padme paused. "Ahh, but you see, the question is, **WHY** would they dislike you." She continued. "From what I can see, you look like a perfectly normal person!"

"Prying, are we?"

"No, just stating a fact." Padme smiled, and looked off to the lake.

"Well, let's just say I have an…interesting occupation."

Padme scoffed. "Try me."

He looked over at her and spoke.

"Well, I steal, I raid king's palaces, and every once in awhile, I'll kill someone for money." He stared at her reflection, waiting to see her response. He wasn't lying when he thought that he got the surprise of his life, as he saw her burst out into laughter. Obi-Wan raised his eyebrow at her, as he had gained the exact opposite reaction he had waited for. Padme unsuccessfully tried to cover her laughs, and giggled.

"I'm sorry." She said, laughing still.

Obi-Wan blinked.

"What, you think I'm lying?" He asked, incredulously.

Padme giggled again.

"Is that what you really do? For a living?"

'Yesss, what's wrong with that?"

Padme smiled, giggling for the last time. She looked over at him, mirth in her eyes, and looked away.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." The smile was still on her face.

Obi-Wan sighed and rolled his eyes, thinking, _Women…_

"I still don't understand the humor in this." He said, truthfully.

"And I doubt you ever will." She said, slowly standing up, brushing her dress off. "Well, I fear, it is best that I be getting home soon, I don't know when Mother will need me to help her in something again…" Padme's face scrunched in distaste at that thought, but then smoothed out as she looked at Obi-Wan again, holding out her hand. "Lovely to meet you, Kenobi. Hope you have success in your raidings…" She couldn't help but giggle ONE last time.

"Well, if you're going to laugh at me…" And takes her hand, but instead of shaking it, he jerked her down and threw her into the clear water of the lake. Padme came up from the water, sputtering and trying desperately to remove hair from her face. Anger coursed through her veins. "YOU! You…" Padme struggled to swim toward shore, but her stupid dress was pulling her down. "Damn you! This is not funny! Oh, Mother's going to be so worried when she sees me! I can't just _tell_ her that I met a guy and laughed at him, and then he _threw me in the lake_!" Padme by now was fuming and muttering to herself, trying to get herself out of the water. As she continued struggling towards shore, she saw that Obi-Wan was stupidly laughing and _rolling_ around on the ground, holding his sides.

"Oohhh…now THAT is funny! At least I have something to laugh at." He managed to say, laughing afterward.

Padme frowned darkly, and stepped on shore, and she was tempted to kick him, but instead she picked up her shoe and threw it at him.

"You! I can't believe you! WELL! I'm just going to leave…" Padme turned around in circles, looking. "Once…" She continued looking around, turnig in another circle. "I…." Another circle, "Find…my…under..things.." By the time she had finished that sentence; she was blushing furiously, still looking around, and not noticing that her dress was sticking to her body. By this time, Obi-Wan had still been laughing, and had barely even felt her shoe hit him. He struggled to speak.

"That's…that's the thing…" He managed to point out to the lake. "Look, they're floating!"

Sure enough, when Padme twisted around to look in the lake, she saw her underthings floating on top of the water drifting off toward the middle of the lake. All she could do was stand there, in shock, her mouth hanging open, as she watched her under-things floating. She choked slightly and croaked out

"Noooo.."

Much to her relief, Obi-Wan had finally stopped laughing and was watching her.

"Ohh, don't be embarrassed. I've seen women in MUCH worse situations then you." He laughed a bit, but then stopped and looked towards the lake. "You want me to go get them?"

Padme quickly came to her defense. "NO! I don't NEED your help!" She yelled, as she picked up the ends of her dress and started walking back into the lake. "And _YES_, I wouldn't be surprised if you saw women in much worse situations…" She wades into the lake, muttering to herself, longing to take off her dress to swim faster, but keeps it on, towards her under-things, cursing that man in every language she knew. She became horrified as she heard him laugh and shout to her from the bank,

"Well, look on the bright side, at least you're not naked!" and he once again burst into laughter. She huffed and ignored him, and grabbing her under-things, swam back to the shore. She stepped onto shore, once again not caring to notice that her dress was sticking to her body. Padme glared at him, and took back her shoe quickly, before turning around and walking away, glad to be getting away. Obi-Wan watched her, and smirked, whistling softly to her.

"Nice ass." He commented, laughing again.

Padme immediately stopped, bristling, and she screamed in frustration, trudged all the way back to him, and gave him a good slap on the face.

"You are such…You are so _arrogant_! You aren't worthy of being called a man! You're just…I don't know what you are, but you infuriate me to no end!!" She screamed at him. Padme glared at him once again. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" She picked up her under-things with dignity and walked away. "I REALLY must be getting HOME." She stressed that last word, saying all that over her shoulder. Obi-Wan still couldn't help but smile, even though she had slapped him.

"Well, sweetheart, I'm _supposed_ to infuriate you, it's my job." He waved his hand. "Now, go run your perfect little body home and cry about some mean man pushing you into a lake." He smiled at her again.

Padme yelled over her shoulder, "I don't CRY!" and she turned around quickly; walking a few feet away from him, turns back to him again. "And DON'T call me sweetheart!"

"Sorry, beautiful. I just couldn't help it, since you're all wet, showing off your curves. I'm sure you DO cry, too!" He finished adamantly.

"I don't cry over men like YOU!" She yelled back, still walking away.

"But you admit you do cry over men?" He yelled at her, watching her.

"NO! I don't cry over ANY MAN!." She yelled, quite a few yards away from him by now. Obi-Wan snorted,

"Guess YOUR never getting married, not that I could think of a man stupid enough to." He smiled because he knew he had gotten to her there.

"What if I said I didn't even want to get married." Padme had by now stopped, turned around to face him, hands on her hips, her under-things on the ground again.

"Why wouldn't you? You _obviously_ need someone to protect you. And with those kinds of curves, you'll have every man runnin' after you." He finished, watching her expressions.

"I don't need protecting." She answered smartly, "I've taken care of myself _thus_ _far_, and about my curves, so what, all I have to do is turn those men down!"

Obi-Wan smirked and made himself comfortable.

"They won't take no for an answer, _dearest_." He stressed that last word. "You're going end up marrying sometime, and you'll probably have turned down all the good ones by then. "

Padme watched him carefully, and asked,

"Why would _you_ care who I married?"

"Cauussee…" Obi-Wan drew that word out long and slow, "He's gonna hate you, but **love** your ass." He finished, smirking.

Padme screamed in frustration, and this time, she actually picked up a rock and threw it at him. "You're so INFURIATING!!" Breathing hard, she glared at him.

Obi-Wan moved slightly to doge the rock. He raised an eyebrow, a smile on his face.

"Jeez, you have a princess's temper, as well as her looks!"

Padme felt like throwing something else at him, but strongly strongly resisted, and she picked up her under-things angrily, and walked away, seething.

Obi-Wan laughed. "See you tomorrow, beautiful princess!" He continued laughing.

Padme just kept on walking "I don't think soooo!!" She answered, in a hard sing-song voice, over her shoulder, lacing her voice with anger, telling him that she was serious.

"What? Had enough already? I was just getting started! Now tell mommy all about it!"

"I don't have a mommy, you jackass! Now, just shut up and stop doing this to me!" By the time she had finished, she was turned around, glaring at him again.

"Awwww, no mummy to baby you? Well, I got newsfor you, sister, I ain't got no mother either!"

"Good for you, I really don't care!" She had turned around and started walking again, wishing that he would just shut up!

But no, he continued. "And you do too have a mother; you said she'd be worried if you didn't get home soon!"

"I DO NOT! HAVE A MOTHER!" She yelled back, still walking away.

"DO TOO! You know you do! You just don't want to get caught lying!"

"I could care less if I'm caught lying!"

"Well, I caught you, red handed." He responded, immediately after her sentence.

"I don't care! I'm telling you, I DON'T have a mother!!!! I don't have _any_ family, so just shut it!"

"Wow, we ACTUALLY have something in common!"

"Good for you!" She yelled back, getting sick of this. He was such a jerk!

"I think you like talking to me, because I can _barely_ see you, and you're still yelling!" He smiled at that thought.

"I DO NOT!" She yelled, defending herself. "I'm _LEAVING_ now. So, BYE!" She huffed and continued to walk.

"Bye, love!"

Padme turned and sighed, and barely managedto yell over at him before going home. DON'T CALL ME LOVE!"

Padme growled, walking out of the forest, as she heard his laughter echo through the forest, and in her ears.


	2. Another Encounter and Pie?

_**Confrontations at a Lake**_

**_Chapter Two – Another Encounter, and…Pie?!?_**

_(**A/N**: I almost didn't finish this. It has been a very VERY hectic day, and I am EXTREMELY relieved that I finally finished this! If there are **ANY** problems with this chapter, such as grammer, spelling, punctuation, etc, I'm **SO** sorry! I'm a bit stressed out, and don't have enough time to reread this, and I have no one to beta read it. I hope Obi-Wan will...Anyway, to let ya'll know, I won't be able to update this story anytime soon, since I'm leaving for NY soon, and will be gone 5 days, thus Obi-Wan and I won't be able to rp. So, I hope ya'll can wait that long! As soon as I get back, we'll continue this story! Enjoy this chapter, and please excuse any problems with it.) _

_(Other Authors Note: I tried to fix it up a bit, just the spelling stuff. Sorry if I missed anything!)_

Obi-Wan Kenobi walked into the lake, pulling his tunic off at the same time. He started swimming around, not expecting that one girl to come back anytime soon, especially after the verbal assault he had given her yesterday. He smiled slightly and continued to swim around lazily.

Padme smiled and laughed, leading her friends towards the lake, where she had been yesterday, with that…man. She frowned at the thought of him, praying that he wasn't there again, and shook her head, and forced herself to laugh on cue as her friend chattered on, ending a joke she had been telling.

Obi-Wan came up from underwater, treading water, and momentarily stood still as a faraway laugh reaches his ears. Meanwhile, Padme continued to lead her friends, and couldn't hold back a giggle as she saw Lilly, one of her friends, skip ahead, singing an old song that everyone in the village knew, extremely off tune. She breathed a sign of relief as Ana, her other friend, started singing, on-tune, this time, which Padme was grateful for, she hadn't thought her poor ears would've survived any longer. Obi-Wan stopped treading water once again as he saw a girl skipping towards the lake come into his view, and breathes a sign of relief as he sees it's not the one from yesterday, and smiles at the chance to annoy someone else, but his smile comes off his face as he sees two other girls following, one of them the girl from yesterday, Padme. He hates this feeling, not knowing what to do, and just..tries to act normal.

"Come on, Padme! Sing with us!" Ana said, smiling. Padme had yet to reach the lake, so she had no idea that Kenobi was there, and so, she nodded and started to sing as well. She felt slightly self-conscious, as she was singing solo, her friends just listening, but she chastised herself, she was fine, no one was out here but her friends, and as they got to the clearing, Lilly immediately started running to the lake, squealing like a little girl. Padme stopped singing abruptly at the sight of the man from yesterday, Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan smiled and whistled. "Pretty voice, love. Just one more thing for that man of yours to love." He smiled evily, knowing he'll enjoy this fight, three against one.

Padme stood there, forcing herself to breathe normally, while counting slowly to ten in her head, all the moment of yesterday flashing through her mind at a very fast speed. Ana looked at Padme, frowning slightly.

"You know him?" She asked, and then she smiled. "You lucky girl!"

Obi-Wan smiled extremely happily at Ana and looked at Padme.

"See, dearest, at least _someone_ appreciates scoundrels."

Padme scowled. "I told you not to call me dearest!" She dared to venture forth and waded into the water, seeing that Lilly and Ana were off to one side, intrigued in their own conversation, for once, although she did notice that they kept looking over at Obi-Wan and smiling.

"You had no problem with me when I called you love. You prefer love over dearest then?" Obi-Wan said, jarring Padme out of her thoughts.

"I prefer neither, _thank you very much_. It would be lovely if you could, from now on, refrain from calling me anything like that, and if you do, don't underestimate me, I'm prepared to throw something _else_ at you." She crossed her arms and watched him. Obi-Wan suddenly put his hands up, a look of mock afraidness on his face. "Ohh, no!" He begged mockingly." Please don't throw anything at me again, I nearly _DIED_ last time."

"Pity that you didn't…" She said, rolling her eyes at his actions, and swam off , to the middle of the lake, trying to enjoy her time here.

"So…" Obi-Wan swam after her, totally leaving the others behind. "How'd mommy feel about that mean man at the lake who threw you into the water?" He smiled just a tad.

Padme scowled and spoke, sarcasm thick in her voice. "Ohh, let's see…she thought you were the nicest man she'd ever let her daughter meet…" Padme had said that, sarcasm in her voice, but a completely innocent expression on her face.

"Wow, I'M the best man you met? You haven't met many nice men, now have you.?"

Padme rolled her eyes and stayed silent, and tried to get away from him as unnoticed as possible, knowing that she didn't have to explain herself to him.

"Well, how's your mother? I'd really like to meet this woman who thinks I'm nice." He continued to follow her, much to her aggrevation.

"I told you, I don't _have_ a mother…" Padme wished he wasn't following her, she wasn't comfortable at the proximity they were at.

"What's with this...'don't have a mother' thing? You told me in the beginning that you had one, and now all the sudden you don't. Why would you lie about not having a mother?" He wanted to push her, he wanted to know, he was extremely interested, and was actually being nice for once.

"Because I can…"

"Yeah, but come on darling, if you lie to me about stuff like that, then I'll never know when I can trust you." It surprised him that he was actually still being nice. He smirked slightly, as he saw her turn to him, her eyebrow raised.

"What makes you think we'll continue knowing each other long enough, that you'll actually want to learn to trust me. "

"I don't know. We use the same lake, and neither of us are going to leave because of the other, I assume, since you seem _very_ stubborn." He stated, and felt something stir in him as he actually saw a small, but _sincere_, (the most sincere he had seen while he had known her) smile on her face.

"As do you." She murmured. She continued to tread water, thinking. Finally she looked up at Obi-Wan and opened her mouth to speak. "Alright, I'll tell you."

Obi-Wan smiled and waiting patiently for her to begin.

"I don't have a mother…I did…but I don't anymore. She…died." Padme was surprised that she had actually managed to say that word, and forced herself to continue talking. "She died…two weeks ago." Padme finally allowed some emotion to seep into her voice, she hadn't cried for her mother, these past two weeks, not in public anyway, and she was finally coming out of shock. "When I get flustered like that, I find that I usually am still thinking that my mother is still alive…it's happened a couple of times before, and then when reality strikes, it's just…" She paused, searching for the right word.

"I can't explain it." She finished lamely, sadly.

Obi-Wan looked down.

"Oh..well, I'm…" It seemed to Padme, and to himself, that it was difficult to get the word out, "sorry…If I'd known I wouldn't have said anything about her.."

"It's fine if you're not really sorry about it, most people aren't.." Says that bitterly, and looks over at her friends, and calls them over, wishing to have some fun, after talking about her mother…she'd cry when she was alone in her bedroom, not here, not now.

"Well, just accept my apology, ok? I don't say that kind of crap very often, so don't get used to it." Obi-Wan saw her friends swimming over, and he leans towards her and whispers, "Ahh, time to annoying you again.."

"Great.." She whispers back, and a smile comes on cue, as her friends get over to them, and clearly Lilly was quite taken with Obi-Wan…

"HI!" Lilly said, smiling. "I don't believe we've meet. I'm Lilly Fontaise!"

"Morning. I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi." Obi-Wan found that he wasn't paying too much attention to her, instead he was focused on Padme. "Nice friends, princess."

Padme sighed, but surprisingly didn't argue about him calling her princess, all she did was smile sweetly, albeit a completely fake one, since she rarely ever felt like smiling anymore. "Thank you. And this…" She gestured to Ana," is Ana Ceant."

"Morning to you, too." He said, nodding to her.

Ana smiled and waved madly. "Hello!"

A pause soon became the four, and Ana was the first to break it.

"So…" She started, feeling slightly awkward since no one was talking. "Padme's never mentioned you before, how'd you two meet?" She was extremely interested in how they meet, and she smiled inside when she saw Obi-Wan was only focused on Padme the whole time.

"We met yesterday, and someone", Obi-Wan stared at Padme, "wasn't exactly thrilled to meet me. But," He shrugged, "that's what you get when you laugh at a guy like me." He smiled and winked at her with the eye that the other two couldn't see.

Padme resisted the urge to roll her eyes as both Ana and Lilly said 'Ooooooo' in unison, both of them staring at him. "It wasn't that exciting, all I did was throw my shoe…and maybe…a rock…" Padme said that last part slowly, as if trying to remember, although she knew all too well.

"Yes, you did throw a rock, which completely missed by the way.

"That's because you _moved_!" She paused. "I did NOT miss! I DO have a good aiming arm!"

Obi-Wan stared at her. "Ok, ok, don't get so defensive, beautiful. Yes, I did move, but I really didn't need to. I have to admit you got close though."

Padme smiled and felt proud of herself. She was jarred out of her thoughts as Ana said something.

"You….threw…a rock at him..??.." She asked, an eyebrow raised in surprise, looking between the two. She hit Lilly on the arm when she started to laugh, her snorting-kind-of-laugh, which was horribly annoying, glaring at her. "Shut up! I want to hear what she has to say."

"Ye-es, I threw a rock at him. It's not as bad as him throwing me _in_ the lake, for laughing at him! Talk about rude!" Padme started to swim away, for some unknown reason, even to herself, but it was a small enough lake, that she could still here them talking to her, if she kept on going. She smiled as she heard Lilly still laughing her snorting laugh, as she swam away.

"Well, I told you who I was. You should've expected that kind of rude behavior from me" Obi-Wan said, matter-of-factly.

"Just because you have that kind of 'occupation'", Padme couldn't help but snort at that word. "Doesn't mean you necessarily have to act that way, specially towards a girl!" Padme said that last word defiantly, as if it was a sacred word.

"Girl…thought you were a woman, not that it matters to me. I'm not sexist like the rest of the world is nowadays, and it probably always will be."

Padme was slightly surprised that he had actually thought of her as a woman, but didn't show it, she had learned long ago to hid any emotion, unless under certain circumstances… "Well, I'm glad to hear that." She swam towards land and laid down on the rocks/sand, letting the sun set on her.

"So, did she really throw a rock AND her shoe at you? My, you must really be somethin' in order for her to resort to that!" Ana laughed.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Yes, she did. I made her quite mad." He watched her as she laid down on the sand, and decided to follow her example. He swam to land and walked up the beach and laid down next to her.

"Well, princess, if you don't have a mother, where's your father? And if you don't have one of those, you're gonna be marrying some asshole here pretty darn soon." He smiled and couldn't wait to aggravate her again.

"I don't have a father." Padme said simply. "And noooo, I WILL NOT be marrying some asshole very soon! Marriage is the farthest thing from my mind! Why do you keep bring that up?!"

"Cause, dearest, I just want to warn you to take a halfway good man to be your lucky husband, that's all. But then again, your personality will be so irritating, they'll just leave.." He smiled slightly. Padme hit him on the chest and glared at him.

"Yeah, what about YOUR personality? On second thought, it seems my friends have taken a _real_ liking to you…" She smiled as she saw her friends swim over, and knew they would immediately surround Kenobi. He shrugged and paid no attention to the blow she had given him. "What can I say, women love me, but girls like you hate me." He put his arm around her shoulders. "Don't you, beautiful?"

She scowled and removed his arm and scooted away from him.

"Why don't you just go on and leave me in peace, and go fawn all over Ana and Lilly. I'm sure they'd love it." She smiled inside as her friends laughed at that, and saw they came around Kenobi, stroking his forearms, and cooing. Obi-Wan put one arm around Lilly and looked over at Padme, then leaned in quite close to her ear and whispered, "Alright, if you insist love, but don't get too jealous, I only got eyes for you."

Padme blinked and smiled.

"Ahh, have your fun with them, they'll keep you busy for sure. And oh…," She leaned into him, looking at him defiantly. "I wouldn't get jealous over you in a million years."

"Ohh, I'm HURT." Obi-Wan mocked hurt. "You'll come around eventually, when you want to run away from your sucky husband and have nowhere else to go except for with me…" He leaned away from her, and started talking to Lilly and Ana.

Padme sighed went back into the water, swimming around lazily, just thinking.

"So, you two lived here all your life?" Obi-Wan talked to her friends, but was watching her closely.

"Oh yes, my family has lived in this part of the country for AGES! Until my rebellious uncle decided to get out of this 'hell-hole' as he put it…and so, he's…far away. I've never seen him through, only from stories my Mum has said bout him." Ana said, matter-of-factly.

"Sounds like one of my type, though this place isn't a hell hole, it's quite nice." Obi-Wan said, his eyes still on Padme.

"Yes, yes I'm guessin' you're right, anyway…Lilly here, just moved here, really! We became real quicky friends, sine she only lives two houses down from mine, and then I just introduced her to Padme awhile ago!" Ana continued to ramble about her family, and said, "I'm not too fond of here either, to think of it, I want to explore!"

"Why not, it's really nice and peaceful around here." Obi-Wan said, intrigued as to why she would want to leave. Instead of Ana speaking, Lilly decided to say something.

"I heard Padme say one day that she wanted to explore as well! And I agree with you Obi-Wan, it's nice here. I just don't get why they fancy exploring, when they're perfectly fine here!" She exclaimed, her face full of excitement.

"I move around from place to place a lot…sometime I'd just like to settle somewhere…" Obi-Wan was staring at Padme, and not even realizing it then.

Suddenly Lilly squealed. "It would be heave for me if I could settle with you Obi-Wan!" She yelled, and held onto his arm, smiling up at him. "Although, I doubt you even fancy me, we're not stupid you know, we can see you only have eyes for Padme, so there, our dreams are crushed!" She said animatedly, although she didn't look sad one bit, but she still fancied him, no matter what, well, who wouldn't?!

"Well, no I don't fancy her, I just want to make sure she doesn't drown. And I'm looking for a chance to sneak up on her and pull her underwater, just to annoy her. You're nice and all, the both of you, but I just don't fancy anyone.."

"Pffft, Padme's a wonderful swimmer! Can't you just take your eyes off her for one second!" Ana exclaimed, smiling sweetly, "And I highly doubt what you say. You _OBVIOSLY_ fancy her!"

Obi-Wan finally tore his eyes off of Padme and looked at Ana. "I don't fancy her! And even if I did, I'd have no chance with her anyway. I'll probably stay single forever."

"What makes you think you have no chance with her!?" Ana exclaimed, puzzled.

Obi-Wan shrugged.

"She loathes me," He answered simply. "She probably has at least 10 secret admirers, and I'm a thief, definitely not her type."

"Padme does have quiet a lot of admirers, but she pays them no mind at all! All she does is shrugs and bids them away! It's quite funny to watch really." Lilly said, laughing.

"Well, what about you two, you must be getting ready to marry also.."

"Pfft what for! We have no need for marriage. All that does is tie you down, and then what! You can't do anything you want to do!" Lilly said, trying to get her point across to him.

"Jeez, independent women around here, huh? Most women can't wait to marry, settle down, have a family…"

"Well, yes, of course we'd love to have a family, Just…not now." There was a pause. "Is anyone else hungry? I suddenly got extremely famished! Pie!" Lilly yelled, filling the silence.

Obi-Wan laughed. "Pie? Where are you going to get a pie?!"

"Why, we'll make one of course! Come on Ana, you hungry?" At Ana's nod, Lilly smiled and pulled her off Obi-Wan and dragged her around the lake. "Come on Padme! You hungry!"

"For what!" Padme yelled, stopping swimming to look at them.

"PIE!" He yelled to her, at the same time as Lilly yelled pie.

"Come on Padme, are you coming?!" She yelled, still dragging Ana.

"Of course!" Padme swam towards shore. "How could I resist pie! I am hungry after all, I have had a workout!" She smiled.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, I guess…" Obi-Wan started to back away, kind of awkwardly.

Padme flinched as she suddenly felt Lilly pinch her in the arm, and looked over at her as Lilly looked pointedly at Obi-Wan, then back at her, glaring. Padme swallowed, this was hard to get out…she cleared her throat.

"Um…Obi-Wan..would you care…to come with us?"

Obi-Wan smiled as he saw Lilly pinch Padme. "Well, Lilly, I'd like to, but I don't really think your parents would approve of me, now would they?"

"Oh hun, you've got it all wrong! We're not going to my house, we're going to Padme's!" Lilly smiled. "And no one lives there but her, and I'm sure SHE won't mind…" Lilly winked at her, waiting for her response.

Padme smiled stiffly, and secretly wished to beat her friend with a wooden spoon.

"No…it's….fine…"

"Well, I don't think Padme'd much enjoy mea round her any longer than I have to be, I'll just go…" Obi-Wan started walking backwards a bit, still facing them.

Padme started to think about him in her house, and she got uneasy…she didn't want him to know where she lived, and yet…she didn't want to be rude or anything…

"I have to water my horse anyway, I'll just see you three around." He winked at Padme and smiled. "Specially you, darling."

"You sure you don't want to come?" Padme asked.

"Well, I do like pie, but you don't want me around, now do you, beautiful?" He walked into the trees, and came out holding a beautiful black horse with a thin white line running down between it's eyes. "Plus, I don't know what I'd do with him." He patted his horse's neck.

"Wow." Padme stood there in shock. "What's his name?..." She walked forward slowly, longing to feel it's mane. "He's a beautiful horse."

Obi-Wan smiled. "His name's Comet. I didn't pick it, but it's the only thing he'd come to. You can come closer, he's not going to hurt you."

Padme walked forward the rest of the steps, and touched his forehead, seeing her friends coming close. "Comet…it fits…" She smiled slightly, looking up at Obi-Wan quickly, then looking back down towards the horse, moving to the horse's side, running her hands along Comet's body. "Beautiful…" she murmured.

"Yeah, he's one of the best. The white mark on his head looks like a comet, so I guess that's why they named him that..he's really quite smart for a horse, too, here watch this." Obi-Wan leaned close to the horses ear. "You can go get a drink you know.." He whispered. Comet twitched his ears and looked over at Obi-Wan, who nodded, then goes over to the lake and starts to drink the water.

Padme smiled, and saw her friends doing the same. "Wow, that's fantastic!" Her friends murmured their agreement. "Well, girls, off we go?" She turned to them, smiling. "I can smell the pie already!" She said, laughingly.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Have fun, love. Maybe see you tomorrow…ohh wait!" He walked over to Comet and whispered something in his ear. Comet nayed, then took one last drink, and walked over to PAdme, looking all beautiful and all, and then he lifted up his lips and squirted the water through his teeth at her, and whinnies in amusement, along with Obi-Wan's laughter. Padme shrieked and stood there in shock, sputtering, dripping wet, but it was no different from when she was in the water.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" She yelled, but didn't sound as angry as she should have been. Maybe she was getting used to this…She glared at her friends as they continued to laugh their heads off.

"Well, I thought that it'd be the only time Comet could ever show you that trick of his!" He was still laughing, though not as hard.

Padme once again felt like throwing something at him, but she didn't have anything, so all she did was just stood there and sighed.

"Well, now you've had your fun. I guess we're gonna go now, girls, yeah?

Obi-Wan's laughter died slowly. "See you later, then, piegirls! Comet, come on, we have to go meet the others." Comet turned around and trotted over to Obi-Wan, who mounted up. Padme smile ruefully and waved nonchalantly towards Obi-Wan.

"Adieu, secousse." She smiled as her friends laughed at that, and they linked arms, and walked home. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at them, but decided not to worry about it, and rides towards his clothing he left on the beach, and leans down, scooping them up off the ground, as Comet ran on.

Finally, after what seemed forever, the girls made it home, and they had all changed back into their clothes, and were chatting about nothing, as Padme started to make the pie, getting the flour bag out. She smiled as her friends walked out of the kitchen, to give her space no doubt, and into the living-room, she hummed as she became comfortable in her kitchen, and a pang went through her as she remembered her mother working in this kitchen…she sighed, and decided to think about something happier.

Obi-Wan crept up to the house, and opened the backdoor to the kitchen quietly, not making a sound, and slowly creeping up behind her, waiting till she had the flour bag open, and he waited. Padme, who was oblivious to Obi-Wan anywhere near her, continued to hum, and picked up the flour bag, grunting as se lifted it onto the counter.

Obi-Wan smirked, and crept up right behind her and put his mouth right behind her ear, and whispered, "Boo."

Padme screamed and jumped, knocking the flour bag to the floor, it dumping all over her dress and on the floor. "Oh! Mon Dieu!" She cried, turning around to see him. "YOU!!!" Padme scowled and immediately started searching for her spoon…

Obi-Wan smiled,

"Hey! It was just a joke! I didn't expect you to kick the flour EVERYWHERE. What are you looking for anyway?" He was puzzled by her searching, and almost didn't want to know…

"YOU JERK! This is not what you call a JOKE! This is not funny! That was the last bag of flour I had! I barely have enough money as it is! How am I supposed to buy another bag!" Padme continued rambling, and was surprisingly almost near tears.

"Hey, hey! Just calm down! I thought you'd be at least a BIT happy to see me…just don't worry about the stupid flour, I'll get you another bag." Obi-Wan lightly touched her shoulder, that being a kind of form of comfort…he guessed.

"I'm sorry….I just have so much to worry about, since my mother…died…" Padme tried to calm down, and put one hand on her forehead, finding his touch a slight comfort. "…I'm sorry, I am glad to see you could make it, but now it looks…wait, I think there's still enough flour to make a pie…"

"Told you, you needed someone to help you…pick one of your admirers. I'll go get the flour now, if you want.

"I don't NEED anyone's help! I'd be just fine, if you weren't so…" Padme waved her hands around, searching for a word…"Oh I don't know! You're too many words to say!"

"Annoying? Pathetic? Arrogant? Insulting? Rude? Prying? Yeah, I know, but that's the way I like it." He headed for the door. "I'll go get your lovely flour."

Padme stood there. "Thank you." She said that sincerely, despite all he had done to her, she still liked him, a bit…

She watched as he walked out of the door, and sighed and looked down at the flour on the floor sadly, and picked up the ends of her dress, and walked through the house to her room, knowing she was probably dragging flour everywhere. She changed quickly, wiping her face to get and hair to get the flour out. She walked back into the kitchen, and got on her hands and knees, getting ready to clean it up.

Obi-Wan walked in the backdoor again, carrying a heavy bag of flour on his shoulder, and knocks, so he won't scare her again. He took a peek in real quick and couldn't resist but take a look at her ass, before she got up. Padme looked up from the floor and sighed, and walked to the door, and opened it even more.

"Thank you for knocking, and for getting the flour."

"You're welcome for both." He lays the large bag of flour on the countertop. "Well? Any pie?" A slightly hungry look passes across his face.

Padme smiled.

"Of course, but not yet, and you can't stay in here."

Obi-Wan look surprised. "Why can't I?"

Padme moved around him, and started pushing him out of the kitchen, and into the living room. "Now shoo, and go have a fun conversation with Ana and Lilly. And you can't stay in there, because I need space."

"But…" He tried to protest but continues to be pushed out until he's outside the kitchen doorway.

"Now, you stay and be a good boy, oui?" Padme smirked. "And IF you try to come in there, before the pies done, be prepared for something being thrown at you again…maybe something sharp this time…"

"Ok, sharp, bad. I don't think I can stand another sharp object in me.." Obi-Wan turned around to see Ana and Lilly staring at him. "Um, hello again.."

Ana smiled and patted the seat next to her. "Come on Obi-Wan! Sit with us for awhile!"

He shrugged. "Well, I don't want to be stabbed by Padme so, why not?" He walked over and sat down next to Ana, who laughed.

"Who would want to be stabbed by Padme. Trust me, she's threatened me once. It wasn't pretty." Ana smiled. "So, I heard that you scared the living daylight out of her in the kitchen an hour ago. Was that really wise? Good thing she didn't find her wooden spoon…" Ana quickly took something out of behind her, and smirked. "I wonder why she couldn't find it…" She rolled her eyes and hid it behind her again.

Lilly couldn't help but laugh.

"I told you that was a god thing do to, Ana! And my, Obi-Wan, I AM surprised you're not injured in some way by Padme. Pretty tough, eh? But no, seriously, Padme isn't all as bad as we 'supposedly' make her out to be. She's really quite nice, and she's just going through a rough time, with her parents being dead and all. Good thing she's old enough to live on her own."

"Thanks for hiding the spoon, though I don't see why I should fear a spoon…and I know about her parents. At least she can take care of herself now. If she were any younger, she'd probably have to live with relatives."

"But dear, she doesn't have any relatives." Lilly says that sadly. "She only has us." Ana nodded slowly, in agreement.

"NO relatives? Wow, at least I have an uncle. Well, hope you two take god care of her then, she probably needs it, but doesn't want to show it."

"Yes, she's a very stubborn girl." Ana stated, Lilly nodding in agreement.

A strange awkward silence thickened between the group, and was gladly broken, when Padme stuck her head through the door, smiling.

"Pie's done!" She exclaimed.

"Ahh, pie. I love pie. I haven't had pie in years!" Obi-Wan stood up and went to the kitchen doorway. "Is it safe to enter?"

Padme smiled and beckoned them in. "Yes, now it is."

The three migrated into the kitchen, each saying their own appreciations, as they sniffed the air, full of apples. Padme smiled and cut the pie evenly, each getting their own piece. A comfortable silence ensued, as they ate, once or twice commenting Padme on how good it was. It was getting dark, and the girls insisted, much to Padme's sadness, that they had to head home. They hugged, each knowing they'd see each other real soon.

Padme was left standing in the doorway, and turned as she saw Obi-Wan put his plate in the sink.

"Well, love, I'm off to make my living. See you and your cute friends at the lake tomorrow?" He asked, hoping her answer would be yes.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her smile and nod.

"Yes, of course. Although, I'm not sure if I'll make it at the lake, got things to do in town, and all." She said.

Obi-Wan nodded and smiled at her once again.

"Well, bye, love. See ya soon." He waved to her shortly as he walked out, and mounted Comet. He smiled at her, and spurred Comet into a trot, riding off into the darkness. Padme smiled to herself and closed the door, thinking of all that had happened.

ObiKenobi: Review, review, review, people! Please? I'm sure Padme'll want to read all those lovely reviews when she gets back!


	3. Crappy Mornings and Adventures

_**Confrontations At A Lake**_

**_Chapter Three – Crappy Mornings and Adventures_**

**_(A/N: Alright, I finally got back from my trip, and I've been working on this chapter for awhile, and I found a good spot to end it, and continue the next chapter. I'm glad to be back, and Obi-Wan and I have started rping again, and I hope that you all like what we've written! If there are any punctuation marks, please excuse me! Now, on with the story!) _**

Padmé sat up in bed slowly, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She turned her head towards her bedroom window and saw that it was still night, although from where she was it looked almost to be dawn. She groaned and landed back on her soft blankets and snuggled against her pillow, longing to get some sleep. Suddenly a bright light glinted on her and she frowned, her eyes snapping open. She flung the blankets off of her and stormed over to her window and snapped the curtains closed. Even with the curtains closed, the moon still managed to make itself known.

Padmé once again landed on her bed, eyes closed. A few minutes later she started tossing and turning, she tried to stay still, listening to her own breathing as the minutes ticked by. She again tossed and turned, laying on her stomach, breathing into her pillow, her stomach churning. She sat up in bed again, trying not to get sick, trying to ignore the stomach pains. She breathed slowly, climbing out of bed, and wincing as she felt a sharp pain on the upper left part of her abdomen, and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of orange juice and plopping it down on the table, it's contents sloshing around and landing on the table. With her eyes barely open, she managed to sit on the chair, and laid her head on the table, her forehead lying on the table. She rested her feet on her chair, wrapping her arms around her stomach, and with the moon high in the sky, and the wind howling in her ears, she closed her eyes.

Padmé started in her chair and raised her head, a small cry escaping her lips as she put a hand on her neck, over a kink. She waited a few minutes and gingerly tried moving her head, her eyes passing by the window, seeing that the moon was still out, although she could see that the sky was beginning to brighten up. She blinked and stifled a yawn, her body still aching, especially since she had slept in this chair for who knew how long. Her eyes strayed over to her glass of juice, but she made no move to reach for it. She neither made nor felt like making any move to do anything, really. After a few minutes she stood up, and shuffled over to her bedroom, putting on some clean clothes, and washed her face, sighing as the cold water hit her face. She brushed her hair quickly, and rummaged through her room, searching for her basket. She finally found it, and headed out the door, towards town, trying to feel good and tying to forget about her whole 'bad morning' experience.

Suddenly Comet came into view for the day, and galloped up to Padmé, his rider looking back every so once in awhile, as if he was being pursued.

"PADME! Padmé." He rode up to her, pulling Comet to a quick stop. Padmé quickly started out of her daydream she had been in, more like an almost asleep state, and looked at him.

"What are you doing?!"

"Padmé...one of your friends, Lilly, I think, said that you wanted to go explore the world, see all the sites and everything like that someday. Well.." Obi-Wan was slightly out of breath, and kept his right arm up against him. "Today is someday. You can come on an adventure with me, but you have to decide now."

Her brow furrowed in puzzlement.

"Why are you saying all this now?!"

Obi-Wan looked over his shoulder quickly.

"I'll tell you everything later...just..." He leaned down, extending his left hand. "Trust me?" Many hoof beats sounded in the distance.

Padmé hesitated. She barely knew this guy at all. "No, I don't think I will..." She started walking away and started thinking about it all, and turned around quickly. "Wait, no, I mean, yes."

Obi-Wan was about to ride away, but stopped Comet again. "Hurry up and decide!"

Many hoofbeats were drawing closer quickly.

With her heart racing, she nodded.

"Yes, I trust you."

Obi-Wan turned around to see about ten men, wearing the King's symbol galloping his way.

"Shit..." He reached down with his right hand and grabbed Padmé's, lifting her up with great difficulty, kicking Comet into a gallop once again. Padmé clutched Obi-Wan's waist, and looked back at the ten men, and then at Obi-Wan, hissing in his ear.

"What the hell is going on? What'd you do?!"

He ignored her and continued to ride on, hoping to get rid of the knights, who were pursuing them.

"What DID YOU DO!" She yelled at him, steel in her voice, wondering if he'd ever shape up.

"I STOLE something, ok? That was the plan all along." Obi-Wan retorted, turning Comet into the forest, knowing that Comet wouldn't be able to outrun the ten men with two people on his back.

"Why the hell would you go and do that!? What'd you steal!" She yelled at him, and was almost afraid to ask, and clutches onto Comet's saddle, hoping she wouldn't fall off.

"Because I owe someone a lot of money, and if I didn't steal the diamond from the King I'd never able to pay it off!" Obi-Wan almost sounded disappointed with himself, and kept glancing behind to see if the knights were gaining any ground, which they were not, and he still kept his right arm close to his side.

"And WHY do you owe someone a lot of money! You know that you're just going to get deeper into this, and then you'll be totally screwed!" She moved her head and muttered to herself, "As if you could get any worse…"

"Oh, shut up! I'm sick of your questions, and if you don't stop, I'll throw you off!" He was obviously angry, but she wasn't fazed.

"Well fine! I don't really want to be part of you ruining your life anyway!" Padme now herself was angry, who wouldn't be, he was so infuriating!

Obi-Wan really wanted to hurt her, but found he couldn't, which annoyed him. He glanced down at Comet's saddle and got an idea on how to lose the guards.

"Here," He said, shaking the reins at her, "drive."

"What!? Why!" She cried, taking the reins anyway.

"Because." He answered simply, while unlatching his bow and grabbed a few arrows from the quiver, maneuvering his legs so he was riding sidesaddle, then backwards, facing the knights, and started to pull back on the bowstring. "Let's add murder of the king's forces to my record, eh?" He let go of the arrow, which flew straight into the lead knights chest. Padme tried to calm herself, but her mind was screaming at herself, freaking out in the inside, wondering how the hell she'd gotten into this, compared to her crappy morning, and she continued to clutch the reins, daring to look behind her.

Obi-Wan felt her head turn.

"Don't watch me, watch the road!" He yelled at her, still angry, and picked up another arrow.

"I AM, you idiot!" She turned back to the front, the wind moving her hair, slapping in her face.

Obi-Wan let another arrow go, which barely hit his target, and he knew he couldn't do this for much longer. He gingerly touched his injured arm, and looked back at Padmé.

"You know how to shoot?"

"Yeah, what--you want to switch places with me? Is that even possible at the moment?!"

"Hmm, I don't know…" He saw a knight getting close and drew back an arrow, firing as quickly as possible and hit his target. "I have an idea. I'll jump off, you get all set in position, and I'll get back on. We'll probably get mixed up in knights though. Hope you know how to handle a dagger." He said, pulling a dagger from his boot and handed it over his shoulder to her, handle first. He was completely relaxed, like this happened on a daily basis. Padme loathed him for his relaxation; he'd pay for this…She grabbed the dagger and got ready to get into position.

"Ok, ready. Oh, Comet's going to turn around sharply, once you're in position, so don't fall off!" He put his bow back in its place. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be!"

"Go!" Obi-Wan cried, grabbing his sword from its sheath at the last second and jumped off, rolling when he landed, and stays in a crouch, waiting for an attack. Padmé quickly swung herself around, so she was where Obi-Wan had been sitting. Obi-Wan shouted over the pounding of hooves to Comet. "Turn around!" Comet immediately whipped around, and came charging towards the knights, straight for Obi-Wan.

Padmé grunted and struggled to stay on Comet.

"Damn you Kenobi! I do not deserve this!" She yelled at him, holding onto Comet.

Obi-Wan ignored her, and grabbed hold of Comet's neck as he galloped inches away from him and yells, "Turn around!" again, so Comet turned and started heading the original direction, the knight still baffled but still in pursuit. He was still holding onto Comet's neck, and kicked down, pushing off the round and swung his leg over, ending in the saddle, where Padmé had originally sat, and as he got comfortable, he sheathed his sword again. He handed Padmé the bow first and then the arrow.

"Hope you're a good shot." He said, praying that it was true.

"I know I am." She answered tartly, taking them both and notches the arrow in, and aims at one of the knights, trying to stay on, and let go of the arrow, hitting her target in the neck. Obi-Wan looked behind quickly to see the man fall, an arrow in his neck.

"Wow, you are a good shot. Never expected that from a country girl like you."

"You underestimate country girls, then?!"

Obi-Wan smiled.

"Apparently. Just keep shooting like that love, and we're home free!"

Padmé scowled against him using the word 'love' and set another arrow, and still scowling, lets go, hitting another target.

"We?! Excuse me?!" She said, setting another arrow.

"Well, you're with me, aren't you? Turning, dearest." He warned, as Comet turned sharply, changing direction on the knights, hoping to get rid of a few for a bit.

Padmé almost fell off Comet when they turned, and longed to hit Kenobi, but couldn't, since she was holding onto the bow and arrows, her hands occupied.

"Don't act so smug!"

Obi-Wan secretly smiled smugly behind her back.

"Sorry, beautiful."

Padmé scowled and position another arrow.

"Are we ever going to lose them?"

"Well, it depends on if you shoot the rest of them down or if they stop following us!"

"And it depends on if Comet could go ANY faster!" Padmé answered tartly, still pissed at him for getting her into this, and shoots another knight, under the armor, at the collarbone, a shiver running down her spin as she heard his dieing cry, as he fell from the horse. She started shivering ucontroably, clutching the bow and arrows, as reality set in. She was killing these men, who had families, wives, sons, daughters, and these men were dieing by her hand. She blinked the feeling of tears away and swallowed, trying not to think about it.

"He can't go any faster with YOUR weight! He's been galloping since the palace, he's going to start slowing down even more here soon. We'll just have to go hand to hand." Obi-Wan felt her shiver. "Padmé..I know this is difficult, but don't think about what you're doing. I'll find a nice place to surprise them, and finish them sword to sword."

"I'm not THAT heavy!...or maybe I should just get off the horse, and hide, if possible. And I know…" Padmé suddenly was very tired of all this. "I try not think about it…" A flash of a man dieing in front of her entered her mind, and she tired to block it out.

"He's used to my weight, but your extra weight is slowing him down, plus I have an idea." Obi-Wan slipped his feet out of the stirrups and untied his sword and sheath from the saddle again.

"So, am I supposed to sit here and feel like an idiot since I have no idea what you're doing, and if I DO anything wrong, you'll once again yell at me?" She asked, her voice laced with anger.

"I'm sorry! I don't want to yell at you, but you don't follow instructions well!" He brought his feet up so he wasn't crouching on the saddle, reins in his hands. "Just waiting for a good place…" He said, more so to himself then to her, then says over his shoulder. "Once I'm off you can turn around and take Comet's reins, though he'll head back for me anyway.

"Am I supposed to let him go to you? So, I'll just sit there, and hold onto his reins, and sit atop him like some fairy-tale princess?" She said, sarcasm thick in her voice.

"Sure, do whatever you want. You can't even handle shooting down two men, so I can't use you." He retorted angrily. "What did you want me to do, give you the sword while I escape? Plus, you have a dagger, you're fine!"

"I CAN handle shooting down two men! And fine! I WON'T help you! If you die, its your fault!" She cried.

"I wouldn't be able to blame you anyway! Turning, dearest!" Comet took a sharp turn, and he almost hoped she'd fall off. "Bye!" He jumped into a tree, bringing his legs up enough just to clear Padmé's head and scrambles onto the limb so the knights couldn't see him, waiting for them to come around.

Padmé clutched onto Comet's reins even more, and muttered oaths at that man, in every language she knew, once again.

Obi-Wan saw a knight coming and swung down, clothes lining him off his horse. He landed on the knights horse and turned it around, a bit wider and slower than Comet usually went, going to fight the other three that were left. He rode straight towards one of the knights, expecting the horse to be calm and as totally trusting as Comet, but he soon figures out that isn't true as the horse swerves and throws him off balance, and then rears, completely throwing him off, and he rolled in the dirt, the sword still in its sheath, and he waiting for the knight to come for him. Before he knew it, the knight was already making his way towards him, the others dismounting and the last circling around and staying on his mount. The knight reached Kenobi and drew his sword.

"We've been waiting a _long_ time to catch you, Kenobi." The knight stated, smirking.

"But you haven't caught me yet." Obi-Wan said, drawing his sword and bringing it to a guard position. "You won't take me without a fight."

Padmé quickly turned Comet around and into the forest, jumping off him as quietly as possible, and stood in the trees watching, praying to the gods that Comet wouldn't make any noise, she glared at him just incase and then back at Obi-Wan and the knights.

Obi-Wan stroke up a duel with the two knights, the one on horseback hanging back, trying to get behind Obi-Wan. Comet snorted extremely quietly at her unnecessary glare. Padmé scowled at him and put a hand over his nostrils, just in case. Comet shook his head free and leaned his head towards Obi-Wan's battle, like he was watching intently.

Padmé and Comet continued to watch as Obi-Wan fought expertly with the due of knights, and she quelled the feeling of worrisome in her heart, he could take care of himself…

…she hoped.

* * *

**PLEASE REVIEW!!**

Till Next Chapter,

Padmé and Obi-Wan.


	4. Trouble Comes This Way

_**Confrontations At A Lake**_

**_Chapter Four – Trouble Comes This Way _**

**_(A/N: Another update, Enjoy!) _**

Padmé's heart stilled as she continued to watch Kenobi and the knights, and her breath hitched in her throat as she saw the mounted knight make his way around to Obi-Wan's back and spur his horse to a gallop so he could cut Kenobi from behind. She clutched Comet's reins, her knuckles going white, and she racked her brain for a plan to help Obi-Wan.

Speaking of Obi-Wan…he had heard the horse coming from behind him, and he swung to block his attack, succeeding in that, but not expecting the slice to his side from the lead knight, which forced him to step away from the other knights swing and allowing the lead knight to hit his sword from his hand. The knight (the lead knight) which had been dueling with him smirked and gently put his sword tip to Kenobi's neck.

"Gotcha." He said triumphantly. Obi-Wan slowly raised his hands in defeat, making eye contact with Comet, who backed up to stay out of this. "Now, where's the diamond!"

"I don't know." He was completely lying, knowing it was safe on Comet's back, which is why he didn't want him to get involved in this. The knight pressed his sword tip harder on his throat, gritting his teeth.

"I KNOW you know, Kenobi. Now tell us, or we'll FORCE you to tell us." The knight said, smiling, fairly evilly like.

"I dropped it somewhere along the way. I wish I had it to give to you, but I don't."

Padmé quickly grabbed the bow and arrow, praying there were enough, and swiftly moved through the forest, hiding from view, moving towards where Obi-Wan was. Obi-Wan saw her moving, holding the bow in the trees, and tries to make eye contact, shaking his head slightly, so the knight didn't notice his signal. Just in case she didn't see his signals, he started moving very slowly in a circle, so he could block her shot, hoping she didn't notice his slight movements. Padmé continued to her destination, and didn't notice his movements under she was ready and had her bow and arrow strung up.

"Damn…" she muttered to herself, scowling as she saw Kenobi was in the way. "Move." She hissed to herself, as her arm began to ache.

"I guess I'll just have to take you back to the king. Maybe he'll give me permission to kill you. And if he does, you'll be dieing a slow, painful death." The knight taunted him, pressing the sword even hard, almost piercing skin.

Padmé tightened her hold on the bow and arrow and longed to scream with frustration, as she realized that there was no way she could hit the knight without hitting Obi-Wan, without having to move. She ignored the pain in her arm, and watched and waited.

"Why don't you just kill me here, to get it over with?" She heard Obi-Wan say.

"Because," The knight grinned evily again. "That'd be too quick a death for the likes of YOU."

Suddenly a small cry of surprise and shock escaped her lips as her arm grew numb, and her hold on the arrow loosened, and she stood in shock as she saw the arrow take off and hit Obi-Wan in the shoulder blade.

Obi-Wan let out a cry as pain rippled through his shoulder, and while the knights were trying to figure out where the arrow came from, sidestepped the blade and yanked the hilt from the knight, now point it at HIS neck.

"It seems the tables have turned…" He smiled, despite the sharp pains in his right shoulder. The knight slowly raised his hands up.

"Tell them to drop their weapons, or you're dead." Obi-Wan said, glad when the knight did so, and they dropped their weapons, the last knight dismounting.

"Hey," He didn't want to say her name in front of them. "Come here." He motioned with his head for her to step out. With her eyes wide, she clutched the bow and arrow to her chest, and stepped out, masking her face of any emotion, walking slowly. Obi-Wan whistled for Comet, who came out trotting up to him, looking happy that he was alive. One of the knights (while Kenobi was occupied with getting something off of his saddle, yet keeping a close eye on them) reached for a knife hidden in his boot, and threw it, aiming at Padmé.

Obi-Wan saw the knight reach down to his boot and once the metal glinted in the light, he knew he was about to throw it at Padmé, and he yelled. "DROP!"

While he was distracted by Padmé's crisis, the head knight punched him in the stomach, making him lose his grip on the sword, grabbed it from him, and kicked him to the ground. Obi-Wan somehow managed to fall on his left shoulder, as to not make the arrow go any deeper, though the arrow dug in about another inch.

Padmé had gotten startled by his cry and hadn't dropped in time, she cried in pain as she felt a long sharp pain in her hip, and her leg gave way. Obi-Wan resisted the urge to yell as the arrow dug in deeper, and he saw Padmé on the ground.

"Go, get out of here! Comet, grab her!" Comet galloped over to her, and slowed down so she could grab on or mount, but was ready to stop and wait for her to mount if needed.

Obi-Wan swung his legs around, kicking the head knight of off his feet, and the sword went flying from his hand, harmlessly to the side, near his. Padmé ignored the huge pain and grabbed onto Comet and tried to mount him with one leg, and collapsed again the saddle, one hand clutching the pummel, the other trying to stop the perfuse bleeding in her hip.

"What about you! I can't leave you!" She cried out, a bit louder than intended, the pain was getting to her. Comet took off at a dead gallop through the trees, heading the way they'd been going, carrying her to safety. Obi-Wan watched them go, and attempted to stand up to fight the men left.

"YOU!" The head knight yelled, pointing to one of his knights, 'Go after her!" He said, attempting to stand and meet Kenobi with the other knights there to back him up. Padmé looked behind her, breathing hard, watching as Kenobi and the knights got farther and farther away, and she cried out as she looked down at her wound, still bleeding, her hand soaked in her own blood, the knife still in her hip.

Both Kenobi and the knight stood up, and ran for their swords, pushing each other behind them as they ran. Padmé, meanwhile, continued to urge Comet on and cursed herself as she knew that she wouldn't be able to tie something around her hip, until they'd've stopped, otherwise she would fall off if they didn't stop, and somehow she had a feeling, an awful feeling…

Obi-Wan reached his sword first, but realized that the head knight had taken a sword from his companion and was now advancing on him. He struke up a swordfight with him, keeping the other away from the sword on the ground.

The knight who had been ordered to follow Padmé, galloped after the escaped girl and her horse. Padmé jerked her body around as she heard hoofbeats behind her, and she saw a knight after her, her eyes widening in horror. "Shit!!" She urged Comet to go faster, and as she turned back to the front she realized Comet was swerving to the right, since the pathway went that way, and since she didn't have a good enough hold on the pummel, her grip loosened, and she moved her right hand away from her bleeding hip to grab onto the pummel, and cried out as she lid down a bit on Comet, and unfortonetly for her, her bloody hand did nothing to help and after what seemed like eons, her fingers slipped, and she landed on the ground, rolling a couple of times, the wind severely knocked out of her. The knight galloped up to her, glad to see she was on the ground.

"Easy catch you are. Easier than your friend back there."

Comet suddenly felt the weight gone from his back and never got an acknowledgement that his passenger was getting off, so he slowed down and turned around to see the girl on the ground. He hung back for a bit. Padmé quickly sat up, breathing hard, and she frantically looked around for something to have for a weapon, and she felt the dagger in the sheath, and grabbed that, trying to stand quickly, but cried out as her hip continued to bleed.

Obi-Wan was still fighting with the knight and saw the other knight draw a dagger, so he got the sword on the ground onto his foot and flipped it up to his waiting right hand, knowing this was going to be extremely painful. The knight who was with Padmé dismounted his horse.

"Got a hip problem, dearest?" He smiled and drew his sword. "You going to come quietly, or am I going to have to kill you?" Padmé scowled and raised the dagger, wishing to the gods it would turn into a sword.

"I'd rather go to hell than go with you." She spat out.

"Then I guess I'll just have to kill you." He said, raising his sword.

Comet saw the raised sword and whinnied warningly, then charged for the knight, rearing up and kicking out at the man, knocking him to the ground.

Meanwhile..Obi-Wan was taking on both of the knight, attempting to not use his right arm, but failing miserably, and could barely stand the pain of the arrow and his side and arm. He finally managed to hit the knight in the chest, and killed him, as he had no armor like the head knight did. He continued to fight the head knight with two swords, one stained with blood.

Padmé quickly hobbled over to where the knight's sword had fallen, and picked it up, biting her lip to keep from crying out, and jerked her body around to where the knight was, breathing hard.

"Stupid horse!" The knight yelled out, seeing the girl advancing on him with the sword and smiled. "Please, little girl. Don't try to play knight." He seemed unafraid of her. She scowled at him.

"Don't underestimate me!" She yelled, hobbling over to where he was, raising the sword. To her aggrevation the knight snorted at her.

"Please. You have a dagger in your hip. You can barely walk."

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't kill you!" She said, clutching the sword in her hand, till her knuckles were white, putting the sword on his neck, clipping the skin.

"Hey! Watch where you're pointing that thing! You have no idea what you're doing!" He said, as if reprimanding a little child.

"Do you honestly think I care? Now," She scowled at him and cut the skin lightly, so a drop of blood appeared. "Get up." She hoped he'd get the point, so she actually wouldn't have to kill him. The knight showed some respect for her and got up slowly, waiting for a chance to take her down. Padmé was glad that he was standing up, and as he did, she suddenly balled her left hand into a fist and punched him in the jaw, and whacked him on the back of the head with the sword hilt. She groaned and turned away, and cradled her hand, as the pain subsided. After she punched him, the only thing he could get out was 'holy' before he fell on the ground, unconscious. Comet whinnied at her happily. She stared down at the man, breathing hard, and turned to Comet, smiling at him.

"Thanks, boy."

Comet brought his head close to hers for a moment, and then took two steps forward, so she was standing next to his back.

Finally after what seemed like hours of fighting, Obi-Wan knocked the knight's sword from his hand, and didn't even hesitate, cutting his throat. He stood over the body, breathing hard for a few seconds, he then sheathed hiss word and grabbed the knight's horse's reins, and mounted, riding off in the direction Comet had gone.

Padmé quickly grabbed some rope from Comet's saddle and tied the knight up, and dragged him over to a hidden spot, and left him there, hobbling over back to where Comet was.

The knight's horse continued to walk down the path, Obi-Wan almost falling off frequently. Padmé looked at Comet and then back at the sword in her hand, and back at Comet, and attempted to mount him, however painful she knew it would be.

Obi-Wan came riding down the path, almost sliding off the slow moving horse. He came around the bend and saw Padmé attempting to get on Comet.

"Hey! Wait!" He trotted over. "Are you alright after that dagger wound?"

Padmé jerked her body around to look at him, startled, her arm had raised, the sword in her hand, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She tiredly slumped against comet. She nodded, her hand on her hip.

"As alright as I can be, considering the circumstances. How about you?"

Suddenly he seemed to become a completely different person. "I can't _BELIEVE_ you friggen _SHOT_ me!" He was shouting at her. "You almost got me _killed_!"

"Well I'm **SORRY**! You stupidly moved in the way. I was TRYING to help you! Apparently you don't need or want my help!" She was yelling at him too.

"I was trying to be _nice_ by 'not getting you involved in screwing up my life'! You seemed quite interested in saving my life when you hate me! I didn't need you to save me, I'm fine on my own!" He retorted angrily.

As Padmé listened to Obi-Wan speak, she realized that the adrenaline was draining out of her body, and the pain seemed to intensify 10 time sworse, and fought the feeling of being unconscious.

"Well, all I have to say is that I'm sorry. At least we're still alive! Now, how…," She fought against the blackness and clutched onto the saddle. "Are we going to get out of this?"

Obi-Wan saw her slight sway and dismounted quickly, fighting his own blackness to stand besider her so she wouldn't fall. He saw the dagger still in her hip.

"Padmé…ok, we can fix this." He took off his already bloody shirt and crouched down. "This is going to hurt, but you can't leave that knife in you."

"What?!" She looked down at him, her eyes wide. "I…I'm not ready for this." She said, in a small voice, betraying how old she really was. "But…if it must be done, so be it." She said, trying to be brave.

Obi-Wan was starting to feel his own pain, but tried to ignore it, as he rolled up the shirt, leaving the sleeves out, so he could tie them around her leg.

"Don't be scared. You did great out there." He said, trying to distract her, as he put his hand on the dagger hilt. "Break that stick off the tree, you'll need something to chew."

Padmé broke the stick off and clamped it between her teeth, her hands clutching the saddle. Her breathing quickened and she struggled to calm herself. She nodded down at him to let him know she was ready.

Obi-Wan slowly, gently started to pull out the dagger. Finally it came out all the way. Padmé screamed loudly in pain and fainted. He hated to hear her scream, and managed to catch her, as he'd been expecting she'd faint. He quickly reached into one of the saddle pouches, pulling out a salve and smeared it on her wound, quickly covering it up with the shirt and tied it tightly around her leg. He stared down at her and felt the pain in his shoulder. He felt as if he should blame her, though it really wasn't her fault.

"Bitch." He muttered at her, picking her up and setting her in the saddle, so her head would lay on Comet's neck. He looked at Comet.

"Take care of her, don't let her fall off. " He said to the horse, patting him on the neck before mounting the dead knight's horse, and started trotting toward the nearest town to get help for Padmé and himself, hoping he wouldn't fall into unconsciousness while riding. Comet whinnied and silently followed Obi-Wan, the unconscious Padmé on his back.

* * *

Appreciate ya'll reading! Please R&R! Till next chapter! 


	5. Emotions Run Astray

_**Confrontations At A Lake**_

**_Chapter Five – Emotions Run Astray _**

**_A/N: Bit of a long chapter. Finally been able to update, been trying for about the past week or so. Hope ya'll enjoy! I haven't reread this in awhile, so if there are any mistakes that I had missed to fix, sorry! Bit stressed out, I'm just glad I managed to update this! Enjoy! _**

Padmé groaned and tried to ignore the pain, as she slowly opened her eyes. She opened them to see a very starry night and she suddenly noticed a heavy weight on herself. She lifted her head up and realized that there was a really thick blanket on her, and as she turned her head to the right, she screamed.

"SHUT UP!" Obi-Wan yelled at her, keeping his eyes closed. "I'm TRYING to sleep!"

Padmé shut her mouth and forced herself to breath normally.

"You scared the hell of me! What are you doing laying so close to me?!" She tried moving away, but her hip still hurt her like blazes, and she winced and stopped moving.

"If you haven't _noticed_, these blankets are really small, and I'd rather be close to you than freezing my ass off with nothing. I don't feel great as it is; all I need is to be cold." He muttered, his eyes still closed, like he was really trying to get sleep while talked to him.

"Well…fine." She couldn't think of a good response, as she'd grown tired of their bickering, and just laid there, trying to severely ignore his presence, and she fought against the urge to blush, suddenly feeling lightheaded, with the thought of him this close to her.

Obi-Wan smiled. "You gave up this time. Good girl. I'm not in the best of moods, considering I still have an arrowhead rubbing against my shoulder blade every time I breathe."

"I figured…" She muttered.

"Yeah, no thanks to unconscious girl here."

"Well, go ahead and freeze your ass off, I don't care. With the way you act, I wouldn't be surprised if no one liked you." She said, moving away from him, taking the blankets with her, just to spite him. Obi-Wan shivered as the blankets moved away and the cold air met his skin, since he didn't have shirt, it was tied around Padmé's leg.

"The only reason people like me, DEAREST." He snatched one of the two blankets from her. "Is because I'm so good at what I do. They just have to deal with my attitude to get what they want."

"Those poor poor people." She said. She had seen his chest and looked away quickly and studied the sky, as if it had become suddenly very important.

"No. They're quite rich actually. Poor people can't pay me." He stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the word, as if she had stupidly missed it.

"If they're rich people, then why do you still have to steal to pay up for something you did?" She raised her eyebrow towards the sky, still not looking at him.

"Cause they don't pay me enough. I have to pay the gang leaders to be workin' in their territory. Most of the time it's wroth it, but you make a few bad deals, and whoosh, you're screwed."

"What a surprise…Well, goodnight!" She said, with fake cheerfulness in her voice, and she fake smiled at him, before turning away from him, still about a foot away, and laid on her left side, and stared at the ground, not in the least bit sleepy, although the pain was making her irritable.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and closed them again. "Women…"

Padmé rolled her eyes and balled her hands into fists, and kept them close to her, so she wasn't even more tempted to hit him.

"So, you're still coming with me?" His voice cut through the air, and it startled her, since a few seconds of silence had filled the air before. "Through that whole thing all you said was 'there's no we' and 'I want to go home'."

"I'm not going to talk to you right now." She said, in a serious voice, all the things that had happened the past day were racing through her brain. "I need sleep. Now, goodnight." She cursed her body as she shivered slightly, and she tucked a bit of the blanket by her face, trying to get comfortable. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes again and attempted to get some sleep. Padmé lay there on the ground, just listening to the sound of the wind and their breathing. She shivered again as a particular wind breeze caught her, and suddenly she wished she was closer to Obi-Wan, but knew she wouldn't DARE move, he'd never get over _that_. Obi-Wan was already asleep, extremely tired from that day's fight. Padmé finally fell asleep, after what seemed like hours, her eyes closed shut, and she knew no more.

The first thing Obi-Wan noticed when he was waking up was that he was all warm and cozy, and that he wanted to get back to sleep. Padmé moaned softly and moved a bit, but didn't awaken. He opened his eyes slowly at the sound of her moan and froze, and noticed his arms wrapped around her, his faces inches away from hers. Padmé continued to sleep; unbeknownst of the position they were in. Her mouth opened slightly as she continued to sleep.

"Awww, great." Was he all he could whisper. He didn't really want to move, but knew she'd absolutely freak when she woke up if he was next to her like this, so he just laid there, not really knowing what to do.

Padmé felt herself waking up, and she smiled slightly to herself as she realized that she was all warm and cozy, but as she opened her eyes, she froze. Her whole body tensed and her eyes went wide, and she actually stopped breathing, as she continued to stare at the face before her, cursing herself as her face grew warm, and yet she still was frozen to the spot, her mind screaming at her to move. Obi-Wan saw her waking up, and knew he couldn't move in time, so he just stayed frozen to the spot also, just staring into her eyes. He silently waited for her to scream. Padmé forced herself to start breathing again, and she opened her mouth, but all that came out was a squeak.

"Please…" She whispered, trying to untangle herself from Obi-Wan, she had the sudden urge to be as away from him as she could be. He let go of her immediately at her 'please', looking almost embarrassed…almost.

Padmé sat up quickly and winced, but she recovered and brushed herself off, coughing nervously.

"Thank you." She said sincerely, looking up at the sky, and seeing that the sun wasn't even out yet, and groaning, she tried to forget about his touch on her, and she shivered, but not from the wind. Obi-Wan had looked away, and muttered something.

"Uhh...maybe we should get going."

Padmé nodded without saying anything, and she realized that her hands were clutched together nervously. Obi-Wan pushed the blankets off of him and raised himself up a few inches before falling back, landing on his left shoulder. Padmé frowned and looked at him.

"Everything ok??" She asked, her voice soft. Obi-Wan closes his eyes and took a few deep breaths, before gritting his teeth and pushing himself up and stands.

"Perfectly…fine." He answered.

Padmé nodded and looked at the ground, she didn't really feel like moving, but she knew she had to. She sighed and gritted her teeth, and got up, barely able to keep a cry from escaping her mouth, but as she stood up, she felt better.

"Can you walk?" Obi-Wan's voice started her out of her thoughts. She nodded.

"I've made it thus far, haven't I?" She retorted, while she looked down at the blanket on the ground, and scowled at it, for now she'd have to BEND down to get it. Obi-Wan saw her staring at the blanket.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get it." He said, as he bent down, and gritted his teeth so she wouldn't see his pain and picked up the blanket and his. She saw his pain anyway, and as she stood up, she took the blankets and started folding them.

"Thank you." She said sincerely. He shrugged with left shoulder and looked down.

"Padmé, I have to ask you a favor." It seemed to her, that it was quite difficult for him to get this favor out. She paused in the middle of her blanket folding, her brows furrowed.

"Really?...Go ahead." She said, as she held the blankets against herself, as they were folded nicely, and needed to be put back on the saddle.

"I'm going to need you to pull the arrowhead out. I can't reach it myself."

She blanched as she listened to his words, but then nodded slowly.

"Alright."

Obi-Wan reached up and snapped a twig off of the branch and then turned around.

"Just pull it out quick, otherwise it'll be worse." He stuck the twig in his mouth.

Padmé moved around his awkwardly, not really walking, but not really stumbling either, and gritted her teeth as she moved to stand behind him, near his right shoulder blade.

"You ready?" She asked quietly.

He let out a long breath.

"Yeah."

Padmé put her left hand on the top of his shoulder blade, and her right hand grasped the wood shaft which was still there, connected to the arrowhead. She winced as she looked at the wound, and she breathed 'one, two, three' and on three she pulled out the shaft. Obi-Wan shut his eyes tight and bit down on the twig, a groan escaping him.

"Well..I feel…better?" He said, as she dropped the arrowhead to the ground, and limped over to the front of him.

"You'll be ok?" She asked softly, mixed emotions running through her as she watched him walk away. He walked away, trying to shrug it off.

"Of course.." He answered, as Padmé tried to keep up with him.

"Fine. Anything else you need?" She asked that sternly.

"Yes. I need a shirt, a bath and about five hundred bucks." He rolled his eyes as he continued to walk towards Comet.

Padmé just suddenly stopped walking, the breeze moving her hair and her clothes in the wind, and she watched him as he walked away, growing _very_ tired of his attitude. All she felt like doing was sitting down and crying, but she resisted, and shivered, wishing she had on warmer clothes. She looked up into the sky and watched as life moved on around her. Obi-Wan picked up Comet's saddle that he had take off last night, and whistled for him to come back from his grazing, and turned around to see Padmé staring at the nature around her.

"Hey, you coming?" He asked, as Comet came trotting out of the forest, and he nayed at him.

She looked at him and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'm coming." She limped over to where he was, wincing every step she took. Obi-Wan stepped toward and flung the saddle over his back, tightening all the straps, and bridled him, and handed the reins to Padmé.

"Here." He went off to go find the other horse. He untied the other horse from the tree, as he didn't trust this one like Comet and picked up the other saddle, throwing it onto its back, like he'd done with Comet. Padmé held the reins and looked at Comet, smiling at him slightly.

"Hey, boy. How are you?" She asked, rubbing his forehead. He stared at her, looking thankful. Obi-Wan finished saddling the other horse, and looked over at her.

"Need help getting on?" At her reluctant nod he walked over to her, not really know how he'd help her.

"All I need help on is getting ON Comet. Otherwise, I'm good." She said, looking at him, an odd expression on her face.

"What's with the odd look, dearest?" He folded his hands to give her a boost up, hopefully making swinging her injured leg over a bit easier.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong with it." She said, as she put her left foot in his cupped hands and jumped, landing, sitting sidesaddle on the saddle, wincing.

"Why'd you…never mind, do it your own way." He walked away, shaking his head. Padmé frowned at him and grabbed onto her right leg and held it and moved it so it was on the other side of the saddle, and blinked the tears that came to her eyes, and watched Obi-Wan, frowning again. He mounted, blood starting to trickle down his back, but he didn't seem to care.

"We have to get to the next town, that salve won't help you for long." He stated, riding off, setting a fair pace. She nodded and followed Obi-wan, she knew they had to go at a fair pace, no matter how much it hurt her.

* * *

The next morning Obi-Wan slowed his horse to a stop and dismounted him.

"Hungry?" He asked, and he turned, to see her asleep in the saddle, slumped onto Comet's neck. Padmé was having some kind of nightmare, of someone chasing her in a fog, and a voice startled her out of her dream, and she shot up, sitting up real quickly. She jerked her body around towards the voice, her hand and footing slipping from the reins and stirrup, and she found that she was, slowly it seemed to her, that she was falling towards the ground, and a small cry of surprise escaped her lips, as it came to meet her. Obi-Wan went down on one knee and caught her a few seconds before she hit the ground, trying not to show the pain in his arm, their faces inches apart.

Padmé was wide awake now as she looked at him, and she seemed to get lost in his eyes. She cursed herself as she felt her face grow warm, and she realized that the pain was coming again from her hip. She tried not to squirm in his arms, from the pain, and from the close proximity. She resisted looking down at his mouth, and wished she wouldn't blush like this. She clenched her jaw as the pain got worse.

Obi-Wan, much to her relief, helped her stand on her feet again, trying not to bend her hip, still staring at her. She coughed nervously and mentally kicked herself, since her blush wouldn't go away.

"Thank you." She said softly, not looking at him. He let go of her.

"You're welcome." He answered, still staring. Padmé felt _extremely_ uncomfortable under his stare, and looked up from the ground, her eyes grazing over his bare chest, and she quickly looked into his eyes, trying not to think of his broad chest, the sun shining on it…

She blinked and looked to the right of him, trying to act indifferent. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at her; still staring as her eyes darted everywhere, apparently not knowing where to look.

"I asked if you were hungry…" He said slowly.

"Oh." She blinked, still not looking at him. "Well, now that I'm up…I guess I am." She frowned slightly as she noticed that her right hand had begun to play with a piece of string that was attached to the saddle, her fingers moved nervously.

Much to her relief he had stopped staring at her, and he went around her to Comet's saddle bag and dug out two biscuits, which were slightly hard, and an apple. He handed her the biscuit and apple, and bit into his biscuit. Padmé gladly took her food; the first slight smile appears on her face, the whole morning.

"Thanks" She said, as she took a bite of her biscuit.

"Yeah, you should be thankful." He said jokingly. "That's my last apple." He smiled and took another bite.

She stared down at the apple as she took another bite.

"We could share." She said, after swallowing, looking at him seriously. He looked up from his biscuit and stared at her. He snorted,

"I'm surprised you asked…" He then took the apple from her and pulled out a knife, cutting it in half easily, and returned the half she'd bitten to her, and continued to eat his biscuit, saving the apple for last.

Padmé decided she was fed up with his attitude so she said nothing except a quick 'thanks' as she took the apple and bit into her half. She watched him, looking at his face, and her eyes strayed to his lips, and the cleft in his chin. Luckily for her, he was petting Comet's head while eating, so he didn't notice her staring. She wiped her hands off as she was done eating, and stretched, putting a hand on her neck, longing to get all the kinks out of her body. The pain was still there, she mused, it was a sharp throbbing pain, which was there pretty much 24/7, but it wasn't as bad unless she did something to irritate the wound. Obi-Wan finished his apple and started to walk towards his horse, but then remembered Padmé needed help mounting and turned around.

"Need any help?"

Padmé looked at him as she put her left foot in the stirrup and pushed on it, which lifted her body and her right leg over, and she landed on the saddle with a small plopping sound, and she tried to cover a small gasp of pain, and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine, as you can see; I don't need any help from YOU." She said, trying not to show to him that doing that hurt her more than she was showing, she really didn't want his help. She could take care of herself, just FINE.

He wished to roll his eyes but didn't. "Alright, fine. I guess you'll just have to ask for help every time you need it now." He turned and walked to his horse, and mounted quickly, urging the knight's horse to walk, waiting for her to catch up to him.

"If I need help, I won't be asking you. I probably won't _even_ need help." She stated, while urging Comet to reach them, and she rode next to him.

"Everyone needs a little help sometime, dearest."

A thick silence came between them, and finally Padmé had to break it.

"So, how far into town?" She suddenly felt like badgering him, she felt talkative for one.

"We should get in about noon tomorrow. We can't stay in town long though. Just get in and out with what we need."

Padmé nodded murmured a simple 'mmmmhhmmm' and then looked at him.

"You know this town well?"

He smiled. "Ohh, yes. Very well. Too bad we can't stay long, you can meet some VERY interesting people there."

"Very very?" She asked, an eyebrow raised in question, a smirk on her face. "What "kind" of interesting people.."

He smiled mischievously.

"Let's just say that after you meet them, you'd consider me nice. But you won't get to meet them. Instead, you'll be sleeping on the cold hard ground."

"Ah, on a blanket and THEN on the 'cold hard ground', hon." She couldn't help a full-fledged smile on her face, but she looked away quickly, still smiling.

"Well, I'm thinking of taking that blanket away from you, love." He said, matter of factly, so sure of himself.

"Well fine, and if you just happen to wake up and find me dead and as cold as the ground, just make sure to bury me, and not leave me there, alright?" She looked back at him while saying that, trying to act serious, but failed miserably as she had a slight smile on her face.

"I'll remember to if you die while I'm around." He smiled.

"Although…I do prefer warm beds much better than a cold hard ground…" She murmured, pretending it to be an afterthought.

"A warm bed?" He laughed. "Ohh, love, you're not THAT pretty."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"And you're not THAT handsome, hon. I for certain, never want to sleep in the same bed as you, not even in the same room! If that _did_ happen, you're getting the FLOOR! Maybe WITHOUT blanket…" She put a finger to her chin, and looked up into the sky, as if actually thinking about that, and she cracked a smile towards him as she thought of something.

"You think I'm pretty?"

He was extremely startled, and he whipped his head around to look at her.

"What?! Where'd you get that from?"

"From you, dear. You said so yourself. You said 'You're not THAT pretty, love' so, you think I'm pretty?" She gave him a smile showing that she got him cornered, and was lovin' every minute of it.

He thought for a minute, actually stumped.

"Well, I didn't mean it like that. You're definitely not pretty." He turned his eyes back to the road. He soon came up with something way better, and the second he did he turned his head towards her.

"You said I was handsome." He stated, as if that would solve everything.

The smile on her face was still there, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, sure I did. You certainly aren't ugly, but you certainly aren't THAT handsome. I've seen better than you. You're in the…middle." She said that matter of factly.

Obi-Wan pretended to be offended. "Awww, come on! I deserve a bit more than average!"

"Nah, I believe I'm right. You're in the middle, and that's it. Better get used to it, _love_!" She said, mocking his use of 'love', saying it slowly and sarcastically, still smiling. Obi-Wan shook his head.

"Well, I know women who think differently." He secretly smiled inside, hoping he'd make her jealous. Instead, she laughed.

"I'm sure you do. I bet they haven't exactly seen the 'best' of men in their lifetimes, me thinks. Of course, they'd consider you as "extremely" "prince charming" handsome, yeah?" She said, chuckling, as she had put extreme sarcasm on 'extremely and prince charming' enjoying every minute of this. She wasn't going to get jealous over this scoundrel, and she was letting him know it.

"I never said I was prince charming. My kind don't exactly like princes.." He knew he was getting off the subject, but suddenly didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they thought you were.." She snorted softly at that thought.

"You seem to doubt that I'm telling the truth."

"Why would you care if I'm doubting or not." She looked at him intensely.

"Truthfully, I don't." He shrugged. "Just want you to know that there are people out there.."

Padmé suddenly, for some reason, didn't feel like smiling anymore.

"Yeah, I'm sure there are." She said truthfully. Obi-Wan didn't know what to say so he just turned back to the road. After awhile he smiled.

"I wonder what your friends are thinking about you mysteriously being gone.."

She smiled sadly.

"Yeah, I bet they were surprised at first…" Her smile turned to a frown. "I hope they aren't too worried…"

"Well I wouldn't worry too much. They didn't seem very sad about your mother's death."

Padmé got angry.

"What, are you saying they're bad friends? You barely even _know _them. How _dare_ you make accusations like that!" She looked at him, anger sparking in her eyes. "They were trying to be strong for me. It's not like they'd be walking around bawling their eyes out feeling sorry for me. Do you HONESTLY think that'd help me?! No. By them being strong, as am I. They're much better friends than you'd ever be." She turned back to the road, trying to blink away angry tears.

Obi-Wan was completely shocked by her reaction and could only sit there for a few minutes. Finally he looked down.

"I didn't know you'd freak out on me about it. All I meant was that they didn't seem the sort of people to help you through grief.." He said sadly.

"And why would you say that?!" She snapped at him, knowing she should try to calm down, and she tried not to think about her mother…

"Everyone needs to cry sometimes Padmé. I don't think you've really had time to do that.." He didn't really answer her question, and he knew that she knew it.

She tried oh so very hard to stay angry at him, and took a shaky breath, biting the bottom of her lip to keep it from trembling.

"I've had all the time in the world to cry." She blinked away angry and sad tears. "And believe me, they've been spent." She tried to say that with finality, she didn't want to talk about her mother anymore. She didn't want to cry in front of him. Never in front of him. He looked over at her.

"Then why are you crying now?"

She frustratedly wiped an escaped tear that had made its way down her cheek.

"I'm NOT crying."

"Ok..ok." He finally gave up and dropped the subject and rode on in silence.

Padmé breathed in slowly, trying not to make it shaky, and was glad that her tears had disappeared, and she silently thanked him in her mind, and they rode on.

* * *

Around evening Padmé opened her eyes slightly and sat up straighter in the saddle as she felt Comet slowly stop walking.

"Huh? What are we doing?" She asked groggily, as she sighed and rubbed her face, blinking. Obi-Wan stopped his horse and dismounted.

"I'm stopping. We can't go into town all dirty!" He smiled. "Plus, we'll never make it tonight and we have to stop somewhere.." He started to tie his horse to a nearby tree. Padmé somehow got herself off Comet and stood there, with shaky legs, holding onto the pummel with one hand, and she shook her head, trying to wake herself up.

"Oh. Right."

Once he had his horse tied, he unbuckled his saddle and threw it to the ground uncaringly, leaving it in a heap, and walked over to Comet and took his bridle off. Padmé stood up straight and looked at the nearby creek, which thankfully, was partially hidden by trees and bushes.

"I guess I'll take my bath first. Can't wait to get all this dirt off me…and my hair, ugh…" She touched her hair, sifting her hands through it, as she walked away, muttering to herself.

"Alright." He answered, as he laid Comet's bridle down with care and unbuckled his saddle, laying it carefully next to the bridle, and pet the black stallion a few times before following Padmé.

As she was walking towards the creek she attempted to stop and take off her boot. She struggled to tug it off, muttering curses at it, and she hopped around on one foot, and the boot finally came off, and it flew in one direction, as she fell down, and landed on her ass, hard. She yelled and cursed at herself and glared at the boot.

"Fraking boot! Piece of bantha fodder…stupid…" She continued to mutter as she took the other one off.

"Hey, those boots never did anything to you!" He came to stand beside her, smiling. She laughed softly.

"I guess not…" And she stared at the boot again. She sighed and attempted to stand, wincing at the pain in her hip. Obi-Wan shook his head.

"We really need to get that looked at."

Padmé looked up at him, she hadn't moved an inch.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Her voice was quiet all of the sudden. Obi-Wan stood there for a few seconds with nothing to say, then he apparently thought of something.

"I'll be upstream if you need me," He pointed upstream. "Since I know you like your privacy." He rolled his eyes as if that was a bad thing, but smiled at her.

"Thank you for that." She smiled at him too. "So…off you go?!" She said, making shooing motions and saying 'shoo', trying not to laugh. Obi-Wan shook his head, still smiling, and started to walk down the bank of the stream. Padmé smiled and walked towards the creek, attempting to get her pants off, and trying not to injure her hip, and she hissed in pain as her fingernails grazed the wound. Obi-Wan kept walking until she was out of site, and took off his clothes with a bit of difficulty, then stepped into the freezing cold water, and sunk down, trying to ignore the cold. Padmé finally managed to get her pants off and scurried into the water, while taking off her shirt, and a little…quite loud actually, squeak escaped her lips as the cold water hit her skin, and she laughed to herself at her silliness. Obi-Wan stuck his head under the water for a bit, massaging his scalp, then brought his head back up, sending water flying behind him, and started to wash the dried blood off. Padmé bravely stuck her head under the water and sifted her hands through her hair. She tried not to touch her wound, and luckily some of the blood had come off when hitting the water and she shivered as she continued to clean herself. She continued to wash her hair and body, not really feeling clean, and she frowned, as she saw the water was turning dark around her...

After awhile, when he felt clean, he walked up the bank and put his clothes on, as he was still wet. He lay down on the bank, watching the sun go down over the trees, knowing Padmé would probably take forever to bathe. Padmé began to get panicky, and kept looking around her, turning in circles, bewildered. Her hip wasn't bleeding, so what else could be…she sighed in frustration as she figured it out. She moaned and face palmed herself.

"Why now?! Why now!" She muttered, hating the "curse of the women". **_Great_**..now she'd be even more cranky than usual. She hoped Obi-Wan could stand her, and not dump her on the way to town the next morning, or even tonight. She continued to wash herself, loving the feel of the now not-so-cold water around her, and she sunk herself into it until it was up to her neck, her hair floating all around her. She sighed against her problem and scowled in the dark. Obi-Wan hoped she was done washing and stood up; walking back slowly to where he'd left her.

Padmé finally felt clean, despite the circumstances, and so she started walking towards shore. She put her pants on with some difficulty, considering the "bandage" around her leg, but she had even more trouble with her shirt. She glared at it and continued to struggle to get it on.

Obi-Wan walked to where Padmé was, and saw her attempting to get her shirt on. He smiled, as he got both of his hopes wrapped in one, and he whistled at her, as most guys do when they saw a hot girl, and smiled and laughed, still hidden in the shadows.


	6. Trouble With The Mind & Heart

_**Confrontations At a Lake**_

_**Chapter Six – Trouble With The Mind & Heart**_

Padmé gasped and turned around, almost falling over in her haste, luckily she had just put her shirt down all the way. She struggled to keep her balance, and stood there breathing hard, and glared, trying to see where he was. She knew he was there…the bastard…

Obi-Wan stepped out from the bushes, still laughing a bit.

"Jeez, darling, I expected you to be done by now!"

"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed, her heart racing. She actually picked up a small rock and threw it at him, her face flushed, severely pissed at him.

Obi-Wan ducked to avoid the rock hurdling at his head.

"Hey! Calm down! I didn't see anything!" He cried, cursing her in his head. He watched her as she stood there, breathing hard. She tried to calm herself, the pain in her hip moving down her whole leg, and affecting her whole right side of her body, and she continued to glare at him, as she flexed her hurting fingers.

"I just don't GET YOU." She said vehemently, limping away, towards camp.

"And you never will, so stop trying!" He followed her, just to annoy her again.

"Who said I was trying!" She snapped at him, still limping, a bit faster now, wishing to get away from him, and suddenly remembered her…"problem", and her face flushed, hoping her clothes weren't stained.

"You sure seem to be!" He said, following her a bit slower, not even attempting to keep up, feeling slightly tired.

"And why would you say that?!" She sighed a sad soft sigh.

"Cause you seem interested in knowing why I do and say things!" He tried to figure out why he was becoming tired, but soon ignored it.

"Do you care if I'm interested?" She retorted back, her spirits rising as they arrived at their 'camp'.

"No, I don't! I'd just more prefer that you weren't!"

"Well fine! Then I "won't" be interested! You could go off and die for all I care!" She struggled to get something out of the saddle on the ground, and turned away from him, limping out of view.

"Where are you going!" He asked, wonderingly, watching as she limped farther away.

"No where!" She shouted to him, over her shoulder, still limping away.

Obi-Wan stared after his, raising his eyebrow.

"Ok…" All the sudden he felt cold, though the evening wasn't even chilly as the day before, and he decided to lay down and wait for her to come back. Padmé finally reached a place far away where she felt comfortable away from him, and took care of her "business" concerning her "curse", muttering to herself the whole time. She slowly limped back to camp, which was coming into view, and she saw Obi-Wan laying down. He had laid a blanket underneath himself and overtop, but was still cold, and started to shiver a bit, trying to get some rest. He didn't watch her as she grabbed a blanket. She shivered at the same time and couldn't control the shaky breath that came out of her mouth, and she frowned. plopping herself on the ground, curling up into a ball form. She covered herself with the blanket, about two or three feet away from Obi-Wan, her back to him.

"Night, love." He said simply.

"Night…" She whispered, shivering as she imagined his warm arms around her, and she flexed her right hand fingers, as they continued to hurt. Her whole right side still hurt, and she had no idea why. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep.

"Kinda…cold tonight isn't it?" He asked, his voice jarring her of her peaceful dozing state. She opened her eyes and turned her head so her view was of the sky.

"Yeah, it is. But it's not so bad…"

"Really? Seems colder than last night to me." He shivered a bit again, feeling a wave of sleepiness spread over him.

"Really? That's odd." She shivered and curled in the blanket even more, as she suddenly felt really sleepy. She struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Sorry…" She muttered, her voice kind of muffled, since it was agains the blanket. "I'm real sleepy…" A sudden idea came to her, and she opened her eyes. "Nothings wrong with you, right??"

He laughed forcefully. "Me? There's never anything wrong with me. Why would there be?" He asked, not even considering the possibility.

"You haven't been feeling…odd lately? Feeling differently? Not as great as you usually are?"

"Nope, I'm fine." He yawned and shivered. "Just a bit tired that's all.."

"Oh. Ok, alright. Night." She said that last word softly, as she became sleepy, her eyes shut, her mouth open slightly as she fell asleep, her last thoughts of Obi-Wan's health.

'Night.." He said softly, he still couldn't all asleep, despite his tiredness, and continued to shiver though he should've been warm by now. Just as he was about to fall asleep he heard her snore, and grumbled to self.

"Great. If she keeps this up all night, I'll never get any sleep…"

* * *

Obi-Wan hadn't slept all night, and just continued to lay there curled up in a ball, shivering. He waited for morning, and for Padmé to stop snoring. Padmé moved, as she was sleeping, onto her right side, and groaned as a sharp pain from her hip ran up her body, and as the nightmare she was having grew worse. She sat up suddenly, breathing hard, her hip throbbing. She ran a shaky hand through her hair, blinking, trying to get the images from her nightmare out of her head, making sure she really was up. Obi-Wan sighed softly and muttered 'Finally…' to himself. 

"Morning." He said louder. Padmé was still blinking; a slightly startled look on her face, but it went away as she looked at him.

"Morning." She croaked that out, wondering why he wasn't up and about already. He pushed the blankets off himself, though he desperately wished he was warm.

"We'd better get going."

She nodded and stood up, gritting her teeth, shivering as her blanket came off, noticing that something was off with him, just like last night, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was, so she watched him closely.

"You ok?" asked she, still watching him.

"What kind of question is that?" He stood up, gritting his teeth, and walked over to the saddles and dug in them for some food.

"It's a simple two worded question. I'm worried about you, and I want to know how you feel. Now, I ask again, _are you ok_?" She asked, putting emphasis on the last three words, hoping she'd get a proper answer, while following him.

"No, I'll never be ok, and I've never been ok." He threw a biscuit at her, not even caring if she caught it, and shivered, grabbing his own and eating it. Padmé sighed and barely caught the biscuit.

"Well at least you could be a bit more civil in answering my question. What I want to know though is, are you feeling ok physically, besides the whole 'arrow-in-shoulderblade' thing." She didn't really care to eat her biscuit, she watched him instead.

"Hmm..well, my side hurts like hell and so does my arm, which is the only one of my injuries that aren't at least partially your fault." He said, standing up, shoving the rest of his biscuit in his mouth, grabbing the saddle and carrying it over to the horse.

Padmé clenched her jaw and had a sudden strong urge to throw her biscuit at his retreating back in frustration. Instead she held the biscuit, unbeknownst that her hold was getting a bit tight, so part of her biscuit crumpled and fell to the ground.

"Fine. If you don't want my help, then so be it. I truly AM sorry about getting you hurt. It was never my intention." She still stood where he left her, not feeling like moving. She watched as he threw the saddle over the horse, flipping the stirrup so he could tighten the strap.

"I don't need your help."

"You don't have to tell me." She still hadn't moved, nor eaten her biscuit.

"Tell me what? There's nothing TO tell." He said stiffly.

"Nevermind…" She muttered, more to herself than to him, and looked down at her half of a biscuit, frowning slightly.

"Just eat your food and get on the horse." He said simply, as he finished tightening up the saddle, and whistled for Comet, who came trotting out of the forest. Padmé didn't answer and reluctantly ate her food, not hungry in the least.

"Soo..what do you think we need in town? Foodwise." He asked, and was irritated when all she did was shrug.

"Or whatever you can think of." He said, to her silence.

"Well, we don't really need food, that's provided anywhere we go. All we really need are…new clothes…and blankets and anything else that YOU can think of." She wondered why he was asking her this; she thought he would've known what they'd need.

"Blankets? Why? You that cold at night?" He smiled, trying to get her away from the subject of him, and apparently succeeding, at least he thought he was. Padmé looked at him.

"I'm more concerned about getting the blankets for you.." She trailed off.

"Why? I don't need blankets."

"Of COURSE you need blankets! Gods knows how long you're going to pretend I can't see you shivering all the time!" She vented her frustration out on her words, they were bitter. Much to her surprise Obi-Wan became very quiet for a moment, but then he seemed to go back to being himself, while picking up Comet's saddle, he threw it onto his back and said,

"I'm fine. Just cold."

"You're NOT fine and you know it! We are going to get you checked once we get into town." She frowned when he sighed annoyingly at her.

"My main concern is getting YOU to the doctor, not me. I'm FINE. Now let it go." He tightened the saddle and pet Comet for a second, before mounting on the other horse.

"Well I'M fine! I'm not the one who's shivering and trying to get away with it!" She glared at him, wishing he wasn't so stubborn. He rolled his eyes, clearly angry at her, and much to her surprise he kicked his horse into a gallop, riding down the road, he was happy to be getting away from her. He slowly came to a trot, happy to have some distance between him and that annoying woman. Padmé glowered at nothing in particular and limped over to Comet, mounting him painfully, still scowling. She brought Comet to a slow trot, not in the least happy to be meeting up with him. Obi-Wan really didn't want her to catch up to him, but neither did he want her to get lost…somehow, so he reluctantly slowed to a trot. Padmé sighed softly when she saw he was coming into view, and slowly met him, riding next to him, saying nothing.

"You are the most stubborn, prying woman I've ever met, you know that?" Obi-Wan said, breaking the silence.

"I've never actually been told that, but somehow I believe you."

"Good, because it's true."

"Do you actually wish I was different?" She asked.

He shrugged. "You are the way you are, and I can't change you, but I wish you'd leave me be sometimes."

"All I'm sayin' is that I'm worried about you. Is that a problem for you?"

"I've just never had anyone worry about me before." Obi-Wan looked off into the trees, and slightly downward.

She really was surprised, but she made sure not to show it.

"Really? Well. Now you do."

He gave a short laugh. "You actually care, after all the things I've said and done to you? You're crazier than I thought."

"Yes, I do care, and you should know that. It doesn't really matter, what you've said and done, since I know that you don't really mean them, hopefully. I have been told I'm crazy, so I'm not surprised that you had a go in that area." She answered, ruefully.

He shook his head. "You're one of those strange ones. Strange is good though."

"Really…and what do you call yourself then, if I'M strange.."

He looked back at her, sending her a smirk.

"Normal. Completely normal."

She gave him a skeptical look.

"No one is _ever_ normal. But…say what you wish." She suddenly realized she had forgotten about her 'curse', and grimaced as she felt cramps coming on.

"Ahh you know what I mean. And I know I'm probably one of the weird ones to you."

She mentally sent prayer of thanks as she gladly noticed he hadn't seen her grimace, or if he had, was glad he had made no mention towards it, and tried to ignore the cramps and the main in her hip.

"Yess…" She said, slightly out of breath, for reasons only known to her. "You aren't exactly weird, but you aren't exactly 'normal'. Whatever that may be.."

Obi-Wan suddenly randomly changed the subject.

"You're going to have to be the one going into town, alright? The doc lives a bit outside town, I'll show you where he lives so you can meet me there."

Padmé nodded and tried not to move, suppressing a groan as the cramps got worse, she didn't speak, since, well, she didn't trust herself. Much to her surprise he looked over at her.

"What's your problem?"

She clenched her jaw and her nostrils flared, wishing her body wouldn't do this to her.

"Nothing..I'm fine." Was her curt answer.

"I think you said whenever someone says nothing it means something. Just tell me, or I'll be forced to annoy you until you do." He smiled slightly.

For once Padmé damned her own philosophy, how was she to know it would backfire on her like that?

"I'm NOT telling you." She was absolutely _mortified _at the thought of telling him, she tried not to show it on her face. He raised an eyebrow.

"Ok..jeez, you're acting weird.."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't tell you." She grimaced as another cramp came. "So, please..just don't ask."

"Riight..ok, I'll pretend to notice you're not acting strange and hiding something from me." He shook his head again.

She gasped in pain as suddenly a strong cramp seized her, and tried to cover it up, trying not to squirm in the saddle.

"Thank you." She cursed herself as those words came out too high, she tried to cover the gasp.

"You are one confusing person.." He looked away from her, seeming to end the conversation for a bit, which she was very glad to accept.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the town came up ahead, and Obi-Wan spoke, giving instructions.

"Alright, just follow the path south through town to get to the doctor's house. Comet will be standing outside..just get a shirt that looks like it'll fit me, and a few biscuits or something." He reached around in the saddle to search through the knights bags and pulls out a coin purse, throwing at her. "Pay with that, obviously."

Padmé caught the purse and nodded. She looked at the coin purse, then at him, and then at the village again, trying to keep Comet from prancing around, wincing as the pain in her hip intensified.

"When do you want me to be at the doc's place."

"Ohh, doesn't matter. Whenever you're done, and dismount, you can't take Comet inside the village."

Padmé nods sharply, her face unreadable, and painfully, slowly, dismounts from Comet, trying to land nicely, takes in a deep breath, and nods to him sharply again, walking to the village, sending him a curt wave over her shoulder as she goes. He stared at her as she started to walk away.

"You know…you can take the other horse.." He didn't both to grab Comet's reins, as he knew he'd stay.

"See ya around." She sent him another mocking short wave, still walking.

"Ohh..ok.' He raised an eyebrow. He mounted Comet, grabbed the other horse, and lead him towards the doctor's hut.

Padmé limped into town, trying to appear normal and winced as she saw the townsfolk staring at her. She frowned when she noticed that the women were talking as she walked by, to themselves. Despite having washed herself awhile ago in that river, she still probably looked like crap, from riding all day into town.

Obi-Wan rode to the doc's house, tied the brown horse to a tree, and let Comet roam off into the trees. He knocked lightly on the door and turned the knob, sticking his head into the doorway an inch.

An old, frail man answered the knock, not coming to the door.

"Come in, come in! I was wondering when you would be arriving."

Obi-Wan walked in, and shivered again, like he had been for the past day.

"Hello, I was hoping maybe you could do a favor for me…"

His tried not to squirm as the doctor stared at him for a second.

"You should have taken the arrow out long before you did." He said simply. Obi-Wan sighed.

"I know, there just wasn't time.." He ended the sentence, lamely.

"No matter, sit down, sit down, I can still fix you up." The doctor said, as he walked slowly to the backroom to get whatever he needed. Obi-Wan sat down, his back facing the room, and waited. He gritted his teeth against the sting, and muttered.

"Thanks for the warning.."

The doctor smiled good naturally, and watched as the tonic fizzed on his shoulder.

"Welcome."

Padmé continued to limp into town, ignoring the people, and sighed in relief as she saw a little market come in front of her. She limped into the market, and immediately noticed two men fighting and yelling about something. She tried to avoid them at all costs, and her fingers tightened around the coinpurse in her pocket, to reassure herself that it was still there. Their words reached her ears.

The guy on the left, who was a bigger build, stockier, and had a mustache, shoved his smaller, yet equally muscled companion.

"Hey, if he doesn't come in in the next few days, we're screwed!" He said angrily.

The smaller man shoved him back.

"And what do you want ME to do about it? I can't make him ride into town!"

All this while Padmé had stopped at a nearby stall, trying to appear as if she wasn't listening, but her attentive ears listened carefully, looking down at all the sorts of stuff on the table, her temper flared with aggravation when a woman came by, asking in a shreeky voice if she wanted anything. She hurriedly motioned for the woman to keep her voice down, with a pointed glare.

"You know what Dathan will do to us if we don't bring him in? It'll be OUR heads rolling, not..." The bigger man realized how loud his voice was, and he lowered it a bit. "Kenobi's."

"I don't believe he'd kill Kenobi, but he'd definitely kill us. We need to find him and fast." The smaller man said.

Padmé gave a small gasp, and quickly tried to hide it, and quickly although sneakily took off from where she was standing, and limped as fast as she could to get to the doctor's house, her orders to buy something completely forgotten in her haste to tell Obi-Wan that those men were…_looking_ for him. Her heart raced with fear at that thought.

* * *

At the doc's cabin, the doctor continued to dab away the tonic from the wound as gently as possible, but it still caused him to flinch every once in awhile. 

"I have another friend coming soon, I was hoping you could fix her up, her hip's been bleeding pretty bad."

"Worry about yourself for now, you've got a cold from the infection, and if you don't rest for a few days it'll get worse." The doctor said, as he finished wiping off the liquid.

Padmé never even bothered to look behind herself as she continued to limp as fast as she could to the doc's house, and breathed a sigh, although haggard, breath of relief, as it came into view. She limped to the door and opened it, the door banging against the wall, and she put her hand on the doorway to support herself, breathing hard.

"Obi-Wan.." She managed to get out, before feeling a sticky/wet substance run down the outside..and inside of her leg, and she noticed her hip was bleeding again. Obi-wan stood up instantly and rushed over to her, looking and sounding slightly frantic.

"What? What happened? Tell me."

She shook her head as if to clear something. "Men…looking..for you..said…something about….Dathan…" She frowned as she tried to talk between breathing.

He managed to piece together her words and started to smile.

"You ran all the way here..for that?"

Padmé was finally getting her breathing to normal, and her heart rate to normal, and she glared at him, wishing she wasn't feeling so weak, her grip on the doorway tightened, although not by much. Instead if shouting at him, she said, in a steely voice.

"What do you _mean_ 'for that'.."

Much to her horror Obi-Wan was almost laughing!

"They've been after me for years. They're all talk, no action. I'm completely fine, you just ran here for nothing, and now…you're bleeding again."

"I don't give a bloody frak if I'm bleeding again!" She let go of the doorway and leaned toward him, trying not to fall over. "I was worried about you!" She poked him in the chest with every word. "Don't you _dare_ laugh at me!" She gave him a final shove backwards, she didn't know whether to scream or cry, or just stand there, and she stopped, as she finally saw an old man behind Obi-Wan, she blinked, completely forgetting about her bleeding hip. Obi-Wan snorted.

"Yes, your royal majesty. Did you get what you were supposed to? You don't look like you have anything with you." He continued on a normal conversation, ignoring her noticing the doctor.

"I --..I completely forgot, on my _lovely_ little haste to get to you.." She finished lamely, she didn't feel like fighting with him.

"Well, lets have my friend here look at you before you go back." Obi-Wan said, gesturing towards the old man. Padmé sighed and limped a little into the cabin, wincing. The doctor watched her, asking gently, "Now what did YOU do?"

"Er…" She flinched." I…didn't duck in time…" She flushed with embarrassment, hating how that sounded. Behind her Obi-Wan shook his head, almost in a disappointed way.

"Ahh, I see, I see." The doctor said, before leaving to go into his back room.

Obi-Wan figured the doctor couldn't hear them, so he carefully asked something that had been on his mind ever since she'd burst in here.

"You honestly were _that_ concerned about my life that much to run all the way here?"

Padmé blinked slowly, and looked over at him.

"What, did you think I wouldn't be?" She was becoming slightly nervous as to what the doc was gonna to do her, but she didn't voice her worries to Kenobi. "And by the way, I didn't RUN. I **CAN'T**. I LIMPED as fast as I could, which is pretty damn fast, if you ask me." She shrugged half heartedly, a small tight smile on her face at the image of her limping as fast as she could appeared in her mind. Obi-Wan crossed his arms, and continued to ignore the still present sting from his wounds, and her technicality call.

"From some of the comments we've made to each other, I'm surprised you haven't murdered me in my sleep.

"I almost did." She looked sharply at him, saying all this in a serious voice, but inside she was chuckling at her words. "But I stopped myself, since I figured I would need your help sometime or another and then after that was finished, I vowed I'd kill you later." She paused for, dare she think, a dramatic effect. "Better keep a sharp watchout, you never really can fully trust anyone, no matter how much you think you know them."

Obi-Wan smirked.

"Seems that you've picked up some of my virtues. And once this is all over I'll watch my back for you and your spoon."

Padmé couldn't help but let out a small laugh, which she really hadn't intended, at the mention of her spoon. Obi-Wan continued to smirk at seeing her laugh for once. She saw him smirking, and tried to not lean on her injured side.

"Do you _ever_ smile?"

He shrugged. "Nothing been worth smiling for lately. Life's pretty smileless for me."

"Smileless…" She muttered that word to herself, frowning, all the while wondering where the hell that doctor had disappeared to. She saw a chair over in the corner and limped around Obi-Wan, her hip still bleeding, and set herself gingerly in the chair, letting out a breath as she did. Obi-Wan shrugged, his smirk long gone.

"So, tell me what Dathan's goons said."

She wracked her brain, trying to remember. "They were talking about bringing you in, and that if they didn't, they were the ones who'd be killed, or something like that…"

Obi-Wan shrugged again.

"His loss, not mine. Thought I've never heard that Dathan wants me as bad as killing his own if they fail.

"Maybe he's becoming desperate, and when someone is desperate, they take desperate measures, so I'm suspecting he'll stop at nothing until he gets you, so, I wouldn't be to _softy_ and _goody goody_ Kenobi. You better lay off the candy…" She trailed off, her eyebrow raised, having fun in teasing him, putting sarcasm on the words 'softy' and 'goody goody' and 'candy'.

Obi-Wan continued to smirk, a bit closer to an actual smile than before.

"I'm not soft, and definitely not good. You should know that by now."

After a lot of searching, the doctor finally came back with the proper medicines.

"Found it." He said simply, opening the bottle. "Take off your bandage."

"Erm, alright.." She took off the bandage, with just a bit of difficulty.

The doctor saw that he wasn't going to be able to get to the wound still.

"And your pants please." He added, waiting patiently.

Padmé's eyes widened in shock at those words, and she avoided looking over at Obi-Wan.

"I, ah…what?!" She blushed a deep red, that she knew Obi-Wan had probably never seen, she only blushed like this when she was really embarrassed. Finally, she gave in, and her eyes frantically moved between the Doctor and Obi-Wan, her face still a flamed.

"Is there, ah…a…a..more private place?...in which, we can…do this?" She hated stuttering, and mentally cursed herself.

"Ohh, come on Padmé, you don't have anything I haven't seen before." He was still smiling between attempting to keep his laughter in, surprisingly succeeding. The doctor looked over at him.

"Maybe you _should_ go outside, so she'll more comfortable."

Padmé glared at Obi-Wan as if to say 'please, get out of here!', and sent the Doctor a very grateful look. "Surely there isn't another room, where..this..can be done?" She asked that slowly, looking around the cabin, but if they hadn't been looking at her, they would've never known she was.

Obi-Wan sighed. "If both of you insist…" He walked out, rolling his eyes.

The doctor looked at her, waiting patiently. She blinked, as if suddenly coming out of a daydream, or vision, and stared at the Doctor, for a second, before blushing again.

"Oh…" She took her pants off, wishing this wasn't so embarrassing.

"Don't be embarrassed dear, it could be much worse." He said, as he bent down and started to apply the medicine to her hip. She winced at the sting, gritting her teeth.

"How so?" She asked, trying to get her mind off of whatever he was doing.

"Well, it could be in another area, now that would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?

"Yes, yes it would.." She answered, staring at the ceiling, wincing again, and she cursed herself as her thoughts moved to how Obi-Wan was doing. "How long will this take?" She asked hurridly, her eyes not moving from the ceiling.

"Ohh, not long." Came the answer, as he continued to work. "So, how did you come to find Obi-Wan?"

"We met at a lake, near my home."

"Ohh? And?"

She shrugged. "I thought he was the most infuriating person I'd ever met, and I still do."

The doctor smiled. "Ohh, he may act that way, but that's his way of showing he cares about you."

Padmé nearly gave herself whiplash as she moved her eyes from the ceiling to the doctor's face.

"What?!" Her voice squeaked. "Now why would you say such a thing as that!" She was glad that her voice was back to normal. "He doesn't care for me, why would he?"

The doctor chuckled softly and continued working. "He's a complicated man. He may seem completely unreadable, but you can't seem to stay away from him."

"What do you mean by that?" She asked sharply.

"I only mean that you've stuck with him this far, so you must see something worth staying around for."

Padmé frowned deeply at that, digesting what he had said, saying nothing. There was a pause. She was still frowning.

"I suppose what you say is true, but what I'd like to know, is, what makes me stay.." She says that last part softly, more to herself than to the doctor, continuing to contemplate, her heart thudding. _Why am I staying with him? After all, I had almost gotten killed…_

"You will think I'm wrong now, but I am an old man, and I've already experienced many of the things you have or are about to. You love him, or are falling in love with him." The doctor said, as he finished up with the medicine, dabbing off the excess liquid.

She blushed as she listened to the doctor's worse, and was actually speechless. suddenly feeling lightheaded with the thought of actually being in love with.._**Obi-Wan**_, of all people, or maybe it was the pain from her wound..

"H-how..why do you say such things?" She asked softly, her voice was back.

"Because that is the way it is." He answered simply. Padmé was frustrated with the way he answered.

"But that makes no sense! Not everything is the way it is, or should be, so what makes you say such things! I need a good answer!" She stood still, slightly shocked to hear her voice had gotten a bit too loud, and she frowned. "I am sorry..I spoke out of turn, forgive me.."

"No need to be forgiven. It's frightening to be in love for the first time. One day you will see it for yourself, but make sure it's not too late and you've lost your chance." He stood up, and left to go get a bandage.

* * *

Obi-Wan had had his ear pressed to the wall the entire time, and was now smiling.

* * *

Padmé tried not to panic, as his words circled in her mind, around and around, and willed herself to be calm. She started when the doctor walked back in, and wrapped a strip of white cloth around her leg.

"Thank you." She said softly, looking him. He smiled.

"You are welcome. Just follow your heart. I have a feeling your adventures aren't going to be so happy-go-lucky anymore."

She nodded, and looked at the door, frowning as she wondered what he meant by that.

"Alright, you're all done." He suddenly remembered something. "Ohh," He pulled a small bottle of pills and put it in her hand. "Something to ease a few of your..womanly problems..that a man like Obi-Wan wouldn't understand." He smiled at her and called towards the door. "Obi-Wan, you can come back in now."

She stared down at the bottle of pills in her hand, blinking, and wrapped her fingers around it before Obi-Wan arrived.

Obi-Wan waited a few seconds to make it look like he had to walk a bit to get to the door, then walked in.

"Finally." He said, standing there.

She looked at him briefly, before limping stiffly over to another chair on the other side of the room, and sat down, wincing. It felt weird with that white cloth tied tightly around her leg, and her fingers tightened around the bottle, grateful for them.

"I don't have anything left to give you to help. But if you want to heal faster and prevent more infection than take it easy and try not to move your shoulder too much. I would give you a sling, but I know you'd reject it." The doctor said, watching him.

Padmé ignored them, staring unseeingly out the window, her thoughts swirling.

Obi-Wan seemed to be thinking. "Actually, doc…I'd appreciate a sling."

The doctor turned around, surprised. "Really? Well then..here." And with that, he handed Obi-Wan a piece of cloth tied together at the ends.

"Thanks." Obi-Wan turned to Padmé. "Hey, you going to and get the stuff we need, or sit around and think all day?"

She turned her head slowly to him.

"I'd prefer to sit around and think all day, what about you?" She added that last part snarkily, and mentally slapped herself. Why was she acting like this! _Be normal! BE NORMAL._ Her mind screamed at her.

Obi-Wan crossed his arms. "So you'd like me to stand around in no shirt all day then? And you'd also enjoy starving? Alright, I'll remember that for future reference."

"I never said _anything_ about you not putting your shirt on, as for food, I'm currently not hungry at the moment, but you go ahead and stuff your face."

He rolled his eyes. "Stop being such a bitch about everything."

She sighed softly. "Just go do whatever you feel like, I don't care, and I'll do whatever I feel like."

"You don't understand that sometimes you don't get to do what you want, do you?"

"What makes you say that?" She asked, crossing her arms, acutely aware that they were fighting in front of the doc.

"Because life isn't all fun and games. Plus, it'd be easier for you to just do it instead of arguing with me. You'll never win."

"What makes you think I think life is just fun and games?" She asked sharply, anger in her veins, the image of her dead mother in her mind.

"Cause you won't do something simple just because it's slightly boring."

"You _barely_ know me! How dare you make such accusations!" Her eyes flashed angrily, never once moving from her position in the chair, though. She needed to calm herself.

All that while, the doctor stood there, watching the fight.

"I don't have to know you, you're all the same." Obi-Wan answered, his face unreadable, his eyes glinting with something she couldn't identify.

She felt like crying and yelling all at the same time, and felt like storming out, but...where would she go? She had no where to run, so she just sat there, taking all what he had said, and tried to disengage herself from her emotions, trying to not let that one sentence hurt her as much as it did. She said nothing, and went back to staring at the wall, fighting her emotions.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "You are impossible. No wonder why you turn all your suitors down, you're saving them a lot of pain and annoyance." And with that, he turned and walked out.

* * *

Thank you for reading! Please review! Reviewers are loved forevah! Heh-heh. 


	7. Of Entwined Hearts Ch 7, Pt 1

**Confrontations At a Lake**

**Chapter Seven – Of Entwined Hearts**

**PART ONE**

**(A/N: This is indeed, CHAPTER 7 - PART ONE. Obi-Wan and I have decided to split this chapter into two parts, since this was such a long chapter, and we didn't want to bore you guys. There are things in Part Two that you might hate us for, which are we sorry for, but it just..kinda happened. Please, forgive us! lol. If there are any punctuation, spelling, etc, please forgive me. Enjoy the read!)  
**

Padmé continued to stare at the wall, and much to her horror, tears appeared in her eyes.

"I am sorry that you had to see that." She said softly, swallowing past the lump in her throat.

The doctor nodded his head slowly. "So many tears, yet you stay. You will know why someday." He started to put things away. Padmé nodded slightly, blinking away the hurt.

"Yeah..." She wondering where Obi-Wan had taken off to. Thankfully the doctor left her to her thoughts.

Obi-Wan took off towards the town, knowing the men would probably be there, but he didn't care. He was too angry.

"I'll friggen do it myself. Can't rely on women these days.." He muttered darkly.

Padmé continued to sit in the chair for a few more minutes, the hurt still stinging from Obi-Wan's words. She suddenly sat up in the chair.

"I don't have _anywhere_ to go.." She said, as if she had just _now_ fully realized it.

"What do you mean? You can go anywhere you choose."

"I don't have anywhere to stay, if Obi-Wan decides to kick me out. I can't go back home, I…don't know how. And I can't go forward, since I don't know what those places are like. I don't know any names of these people in all these villages, nor do I even know where I am right now…" She trailed off, stricken with that thought, and her face crumpled a bit, as if she was about to cry. "I need to figure this out…" Suddenly her face expression changed, one to determination, and she stood up from the chair and looked at the door.

"Now, don't be rash. Think this through before you go off by yourself to places you don't know about." The doctor intervened, a bit worried about her fate.

"Who ever said anything about being rash?" She raised an eyebrow at him, before a slight smile appeared. "I've got to figure out things for myself, from now on."

"Well, don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"I've never been known to.." She snorted softly at that, and then blinked. "Well, I guess this is goodbye…"

"Goodbye. Always remember to follow your heart in your travels." The doctor sent her a smile and a small wave.

"Farewell! I hope we can see each other soon, although with definite different circumstances." She waved, "It was lovely to meet you, and I shall take your advice with me wherever I go." And with that she limped out the door, sighing a bit. Padmé figured Obi-Wan had gone into town to buy himself a shirt, and so she limped there, slowly this time, taking in the nature around her.

Obi-Wan walked into town, still slightly angry about their fight, still carrying the sling in his hand, and walked over to the nearest stand in the marketplace, happy to see he knew this man.

Padmé sighed as she limped into town, hoping Obi-Wan wouldn't _actually_ leave her. She was scared of being in such a place as this, all alone.

"Hey," Obi-Wan greeted the owner of the stand cordially.

"Obi-Wan! You haven't been in town for awhile!" The owner exclaimed, surprised to see him here.

"Yeah, on the run and all, you know…same old, same old."

"Hey, you better be on the lookout, Dathan's serious this time. He's got two goons in town lookin' for you." The owner warned.

"Serious?" Obi-Wan seemed unworried. "He's all talk."

"He's changed. He's not so lenient nowadaways. I'd get him the money and get out if I were you, and fast!"

"I'm trying, I only have a thousand left. After I pay him, I'm gonna be rich. Hey, could you spare a bit of food for me? I have to go all the way back to..(towns name).."

"Sure, sure. Take what ya need." The owner said, and then stilled slightly as he saw something, then his face went back to his normal expression.

"Goons, on your left, practically right behind you." He muttered to Obi-Wan quietly.

Obi-Wan turned around, pretending not to notice the two men, and started to walk away.

"Hey Kenobi!" Someone called. Obi-Wan cringed in the inside and turned around happily.

"Boys! Didn't see you there." He outstretched his hands in a welcoming gesture.

The shorter man continued to stare at him.

"Dathan wants his money."

"Ohh," Obi-Wan tried to look unconcerned, "Life isn't just about money."

"To him it is and you'd better have the money on you, or we've got a little message for you." The taller man warned, who was the one who had called out to him.

Padmé limped into town towards the marketplace, worried that those men were still there, so she stayed hidden, as much as possible, but trying not to look too sneaky, searching for Kenobi.

"Well what if I didn't exactly have all of it with me right at this moment?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Then you have three days. Or you won't be living to see another sunrise." The taller man answered seriously.

Padmé continued to limp through the market, tuning out all the noises, the people talking, the people laughing, the people yelling, the children running around…a little 'ooaf' escaped her lips as suddenly she collided with something…small. She cried out as she nearly fell, but caught herself quickly enough.

"Three days seems a little..." Obi-Wan saw the extremely serious looks on their faces, and theirs hands on their sword hilts, "A little great. I can do that." He smiled hopefully.

"See you in three days, Kenobi." The smaller man smiled happily knowing he'd never be able to make the deadline, and walked away with the other man.

Obi-Wan put a hand to his forehead. "Three days? _Shit_…"

Padmé blinked as she straightened herself, cursing her hip, and looked down at a little child sitting on the ground, rubbing his (for it was a boy) head with his hand, looking angry.

Obi-Wan turned back to the vendor he'd been speaking to before. He quickly grabbed a few pieces of fruit and took off for a stall with clothing laying on it, and grabbed a shirt, hiding it, and started to run out of town, knowing he'd never be able to make this, but he had to try.

Padmé bent down a little to the child, holding out her hand.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she studied him. He couldn't have been any older than 8 or 9...maybe even younger. She couldn't tell exactly, his face was covered in a lot of dirt.

Obi-Wan felt a chill shoot through him and slipped on the shirt, knowing it wouldn't help as the chill had nothing to do with the weather, but he continued running back to the doc's house.

The little boy struggled to stand up, brushing himself off. Padmé noticed the market place was getting even more crowded; the people were bumping off each other. The boy nodded and just as he did Padmé cried out as suddenly someone knocked into her from behind, and she landed on the ground, her leg giving way. Before she could get her head up, the boy and another boy were running away. She struggled to get up on her feet and her hands automatically went into her pockets. She cursed as she felt nothing in them. They were empty.

"HEY! STOP!" She yelled, limping after them as fast as she could, saying 'sorry, excuse me, pardon me' as she tried to get through the crowd.

Obi-Wan made it back to the doc's house and he flew through the door, panting.

"Where's…Padmé…"

The doctor looked at him, blinking.

"She left…I don't know where she went."

Padmé continued to chase the kids, yelling for them to stop, but pretty soon she lost track of them, and she suddenly stopped, panting. She looked around, trying not to panic.

"Ohh, fricken great!" He bent over panting. "Well…tell her to saddle up and head east on the path once she gets back, cause that's the way I'm heading and I can't stay here any longer." His breathing had started to return to normal, and he whistled for Comet, mounting him, riding off at a slow trot, hoping Padmé would be able to catch up.

Padmé closed her eyes tightly and counted to five before opening them again, her breathing to normal.

"Ok…where the hell am I?" She hissed at herself. "Great! Obi-Wan's gonna kill me!" She groaned in frustration and swiped her hands over her face. She cursed those two little kids for taking her money and getting her lost. She growled and cursed herself as she started limping forward, looking around.

Obi-Wan continued to ride at a fairly slow pace, hoping Padmé would be able to catch up soon so he could go faster, and could get to their destination sooner. If he didn't get the money in time he, and Padmé, were history. He'd never seen Dathan's men so serious about anything.

As Padmé continued to limp through the unknown part of town she suddenly felt a hand wrap around her shoulder, and she was turned around to see a huge man standing in front of her, towering over her. Padmé smiled sweetly at him while craning her neck to see him, waving at him, her fingers moving.

"Oh, hello there!"

The huge man removed his hand from her shoulder, looking at her.

"Hello there, sexy." His voice was deep and gravely, and she repressed the urge to wrinkle her nose in disgust from his pungent breath.

She continued to smile sweetly, searching for a way out, trying to ignore her hammering heart.

"Beautiful day isn't it…" She said distractedly, trying not to panic as he stepped even closer to her, their bodies barely an inch apart, and her sweet smile façade slipped as she felt her body bump into the wall of a building. Her fingers moved behind her and around her, hoping he wouldn't notice she was feeling for something, anything…

Obi-Wan rode along, lulling back and forth. He suddenly felt another chill, remembering what the doc said about taking it easy for a few days, but he knew he couldn't.

Her fingers wrapped around something, she didn't bother to wonder what it was, at least it was lightweight. She grabbed it tightly and swung her arm, aiming for his head. Her heart stopped as his hand caught her wrist tightly.

"I don't take to bein' hit on the head often, darlin'." He squeezed her wrist, smirking as she cried out in pain as her fingers let go of the object, it falling to the ground with a clatter.

As Obi-Wan became farther and farther away from town without Padmé, he began to wonder what could've possibly happened to her.

He couldn't believe he was actually worrying about her, and went another fourth of a mile before he decided he wanted his money back if she was not coming along with him, since she hadn't shown up yet.

Padmé screamed softly as suddenly his arm was around her waist and she was lifted onto his shoulders. She kicked and hit him with her fists, yelling at him.

"Hey! PUT ME DOWN! WHAT DO YOU WANT! LET GO! I don't LIKE THIS!" As she scowled with frustration she began to notice that he was walking AWAY from the village.

"Put me down! You can't do this!" She yelled, hitting him on the back of the head with her elbow, hard. They cried out simultaneously as he let go of her and she dropped head first, landing on the ground with an 'oooaf', the wind knocked out of her.

Obi-Wan came trotting into town, knowing he'd need to find her and hurry up. He searched through the streets from atop Comet, giving him a better view but no sign of the woman.

She cried out again loudly and cradled her side that she had landed on, which had been the one with her injured hip. She managed to get her left leg out and kick him on the back of the knee, she managed to get up somehow as he fell. She once again searched for something and found a rock, and as he was turning to her she hit him on the temple, and stood there in shock as he fell to the ground unconscious, a look of utter surprise on his face.

Obi-Wan continued to search in the crowd, wondering where the hell she'd gotten to.

Padmé stood there, breathing hard as the adrenaline escaped her body, She almost fell to the ground.

He continued to ride through town and got to the edge. He saw Padmé off to the distance, with what looked to be another man, and wondered what she could possibly be doing.

Padmé fell to her knees, and put her forehead to the ground, breathing hard, her tears falling to the soil. She stood up quickly, wiped her face, and looked left and right quickly before figuring that no one would see that man until later, he probably would get up soon enough. She limped away from him as fast as she could, the images of what he would've done to her flashing through her mind.

Obi-Wan galloped towards her, wondering why she was walking the complete wrong direction. Padmé quickly looked behind her, her hair in her face. She didn't exactly see who it was, but quickly came to the conclusion that it was one of that guy's friends who was coming after her anyway. Her heart beat faster with fear, and she limped faster, she would've run if it hadn't been for her damned hip.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes when she started to limp faster, knowing she didn't know who he was. He kept on pursuing her, nonetheless. He got closer to her and leaned over, using his free and unhurt arm to reach down and put his arm around her waist, picking her up off the ground, hand carrying her basically under his arm while he turned Comet around. Padmé started to fight immediately with as much strength she had left.

"Nooooooo! LET GO OF ME!"

This time she actually screamed _screamed_ as a sharp long pain knifed through her body from her hip.

"SHUT UP, YOU IRRITATING WOMAN!" He didn't know for sure what happened between her and that man, but he sure knew it probably wasn't good.

"Can't handle yourself in the real world without me, can you?" He hoped she recognized his voice by now.

"I was making it fine without you! Now would you please let me get into more of a comfortable position. This hurts you know!" She winced between her sentences.

"All about comfort with you, isn't it?" He retorted as he pulled her around and set her in front of him. "What the hell happened? You can't even stay out of trouble for 5 minutes!"

Padmé looked to the front, her mouth pinched shut, saying nothing.

"Where's my money? And why didn't you just stay at the doc's, you seemed so adamant about staying when I wanted you to go!" He continued, heading back towards town again at a trot.

"I lost it." She finally said, softly, trying not to think of what that…man…would do once he woke up.

"You **LOST** it?!" He was so angry he could barely speak; he just kept it all inside.

"YES I LOST it. Someone pick pocketed me, before that man…attacked me.." She trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Obi-Wan really felt like hitting her, but he restrained himself.

"I don't even want to hear it right now." He snapped. A few seconds later, he was surprisingly cooled down immensely.

"You…you're…okay…you're okay..right?" He asked, not knowing how to ask that.

Padmé was surprised by his stuttering. "No, I'm never ok."

"Don't give me that shit…he…didn't do…anything….right?"

"NO, he didn't."

"Good." Obi-Wan couldn't believe he was doing this, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. He put his arm around her upper waist area and gave her a bit of a hug..well what could be considered a hug on horseback. "I'm not mad at you; I just don't want anything happening to you."

Padmé's heart was greatly touched by his 'semi-hug' and her face crumpled and much to her surprise and horror a sob escaped her throat.

He kept his arm around her waist and let her lean on him. "Don't worry, that'll never happen again. I'll keep you safe." He seriously had no idea where this was coming from, since it was so unlike him, yet he didn't want to stop acting this way.

Padmé lifted her head off his chest, wiped her face, quite embarrassed to have broken down a bit in front of him.

"Why do you care?" She asked softly. "Why do you care what happens to me.." She whispered, getting over the initial shock of what just happened.

"Well," Obi-Wan seemed to become his normal self again, "What…you want me to not care?"

"I do know you care, but what I want to know is why. It seems as if you can't stand me at all, and I believe you know my answer to your question.."

"Well, I'm not going to act all soft, if that's what you're trying to ask me.

"I never am expecting you to."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"All…all I want is your friendship, and the knowledge that I can trust you, and that you can trust me..but from what's happened thus far, we can't really rely on each other.." Padmé thought about the stolen money.

"You can rely on me, can't you? I haven't done anything for you NOT to trust me, have I?"

"You—you haven't done anything, I do trust you but it's _I_ that I'm worried about. I'm not a very reliable person."

Obi-Wan shrugged. "You're not used to this kind of life yet."

Padmé sat in silence for a few minutes. "I don't believe I ever will," she paused. "So, where are we off to?"

"Cornwall." Obi-Wan answered simply as they started to get out of town and back to the doc's house to pick up the other horse.

Padmé nodded slightly and was surprised to find that she was in a rather comfortable position. As the last of the adrenaline swept out of her body, she found herself getting very tired. She was almost out of it by the time her head was leaned against Obi-Wan's chest.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat loudly, hoping she'd wake up when they reached the doc's house, so she could get back on her horse. Padmé didn't wake up, but she unconsciously shifted her position, trying to get more comfortable.

Obi-Wan's eyes widened slightly as he realized that she was pressed up against EVERY part of his body, and he knew he couldn't really shift, so he tried to ignore it as he grabbed the other horse's reins, tying the brown to his saddle. He quickly started out for Cornwall at a fast trot, not wanting to exhaust Comet.

Padmé jerked away from the jostling of Comet's fast trot and gasped as she felt like she was going to fall off and instinctively reached out with her hand to grab onto anything. (Which appeared to be Obi-Wan's "below the belt" area.) Obi-Wan's eyes widened in surprise by her sudden awakening, and he was even more surprise by where she grabbed. He grabbed her arm with his free hand and pulled her hand away. He, for once, was completely speechless, and couldn't figure out what to say.

"I-I'm…" She stared at him, her eyes huge. "I think it's best that I get off…before I do anymore damage." Her eyes unbiddingly flicked down to where she had put her hand, before she quickly brought them back up to his face, her hand tingling. She was very grateful that she wasn't blushing.

"Err…" He said, feeling extremely awkward, and he really didn't know what to say, he couldn't manage to get anything out, even if he thought of something. He stopped the horse without a word. Quickly, as she could she got off Comet trying not to hurt herself, and mounted the brown horse and waited as Obi-Wan untied of reins of the brown horse clumsily, and nudged it into a trot, wishing the ground would swallow her up. Obi-Wan continued to ride on, still feeling awkward. Padmé sat atop Comet, ignoring Obi-Wan completely. _What had just happened? Had she seen something in Obi-Wan's eyes she hadn't seen before, or was it just her imagination. Damn it all for being so blurry in her mind._

Obi-Wan didn't look at her, but off in the opposite direction, the last few minutes replaying in his head. Padmé suddenly winced as a cramp came. She searched through her pockets, her fingers wrapping around the bottle of pills the doctor had given her. She took the bottle out, staring at it. Obi-Wan continued to try and think of something to say to break the silence, yet he was still lost for words. Padmé opened the bottle with a bit of difficulty and took out one pill, staring at it, wishing they were at Cornwall already. Thankfully for her, Obi-Wan was still looking the other way, so he didn't see what she was doing. She stared at the pill for a few seconds before putting it on her tongue, getting her canteen of water. She took a sip, and nearly gagged at the bitter aftertaste. Obi-Wan actually thought of something and took a quick look over at her, but looked away, having lost the words. Padmé looked at Obi-Wan, she wondered what he was feeling. She really knew she should say something…

"I'm sorry." She looked straight ahead, not at him.

"It's," He continued to look down." It's ok."

"Are you alright? Look," She looked at him, "I said I'm sorry, and I know this is pretty awkward, but if we're going to stay together for now on, we've got to get over what happens pretty quickly, or we'll be having '10 ft or more away and no talking' issues." She blinked. Had that really all come from her?

"Yes, I'm fine." Obi-Wan's voice jarred her of her thoughts, "We aren't 10 feet away from each other, and we don't have talking issues." He was surprised that he had gotten that all out, since he could barely talk before.

"Apparently you did before.." She muttered to herself. Sadly, he heard her.

"I had nothing to say before."

"Well, that's a first.." She muttered again, she couldn't keep a fleeting smile from appearing.

"Hey, I can hold my tongue if I want to." He retorted proudly.

"Well I'd—" She suddenly stopped talking, her eyes huge. She clumsily brought the brown horse to a stop and practically jumped off the horse, a hand to her mouth. She limped over to the trees as fast as she could. She dropped to her knees and vomited. Obi-Wan stopped and dismounted, walking over to where Padmé was crouched. He kneeled next to her.

"You ok now?"

She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, actually managing to nod. She swallowed and winced at the bitter taste of bile in her throat. "Yes, I'm ok.."

He put his hand gently on her back, watching her closely.

"What was all that about?"

"I don't know…maybe my body was disapproving of something I had taken." Her mind immediately thought about the pill. She attempted to stand, putting her hand on his arm for support. Obi-Wan helped her up.

"Well, you haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary." He helped her back to her horse. She shook her head.

"No, I can't say I have..well, I haven't eaten in awhile, actually."

"Here," He dug into Comet's saddlebag where he placed the apples, "then eat, if you think you need it." He handed her an apple. Padmé looked at the apple, and shook her head as her stomach became queasy again. "No, no thanks."

"Ok," He put the apple back, "Maybe you should take Comet. You don't get tossed around so much when he trots."

"Alright." She nodded, mounting Comet, cursing her body for rejecting the pill. At least, that's what she thought it was. Obi-Wan quickly mounted the other horse and they continued on their way. Padmé said nothing. She didn't feel like talking, she just felt overwhelmed with all the emotions she was feeling. Obi-Wan desperately wanted to say something to make her feel better, but he had no idea what that could've been.

"I'm alright, Obi-Wan. You needn't worry." Her voice broke the silence barrier.

"I just hope you're not getting sick. The next few days are going to be a hard ride."

She nodded. "I hope so too, but I'm a tough cookie." A slight smile appeared on her face, directed towards him, but it quickly slipped away.

"Yeah, ssssssssssuuuuuuurrrrrreeeeeee." He said sarcastically, smirking at her.

She snorted. "Don't believe me then, eh?"

"No, I don't. Or maybe it's just you have a low pain tolerance." He continued to smirk while he looked over at her. Padmé had the strong urge to cross her arms and glare, but she resisted and said nothing, ignoring him. _Does he always have to be an ass all the time!?_

"Ignoring me now? Just because I was acting nice before doesn't mean I can't be mean to you again."

"I know, but I'll ignore you for however long I want to," she paused, "don't get too lonely, k?" She added, sarcastically.

"I'm used to being alone. I think YOU'RE the one who's going to get lonely over there."

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy over here? Oh please…" She shook her head in exasperation. "If I'm lonely then I'm lonely, I sure as hell won't talk to you, all you do is criticize me."

"Ohh, you know you like it. You also know I don't even mean it half the time."

"And why would I like it!? I don't believe anyone likes being criticized almost 24/7."

"Hey, I DO sleep sometimes. That's your break from me."

"Thanks Gods." She said heavily, her eyes rolling upwards.

"Ohh, I'm not that bad, am I?" He pretended to be hurt.

"Oh, don't you even DARE to be hurt." She snapped at him.

"I'm HURT by you snapping at me for being hurt." He grabbed his heart dramatically.

She actually glared at him this time, her eyes rolling once again.

"You are so immature."

"I know," he smirked.

"I hope you grow up soon."

"Nah, maturity is overrated." He smirked again.

"Ahh, and who told you that? Another thief?"

"No, I made it up myself." He said, proudly.

"I would've never thought…" Sarcasm was thick in her voice again. A momentary pause came between them, and Padme sat there, wondering about their fate.

"What will happen to us, once we get to Cornwall?"

"We go there, I get my money, and we go back to the village." He answered, simply.

"And what happens if it all doesn't go in that order?"

"How could it NOT go in that order?" His eyebrows raised.

Padmé looked to the sky, they had been riding for some time, and she knew that once they'd dismount her butt would hurt forever. She shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. It was getting dark.

"I don't know…I'm just asking, some things never go the way you want them too." Thunder sounded, and suddenly it started to rain.

"Ahh, but if this doesn't go right then both of us are dead...well I am at least.."

Padmé frowned slightly as she looked into the sky, the rain plastering her hair to her face.

"Well that's a purely wonderful thought."

"Isn't it? We'd better get out of the rain." He brought the brown horse to the side of the road, tieing him up before taking the saddle off quickly and carelessly.

"But I like the rain..." She muttered softly to herself. She turned her head up to the sky again and closed her eyes, just sitting there for a few seconds, letting the rain wash over her.

"You want to ride in the rain? We can, but you're going to be freezing."

She shrugged and shivered at the same time. "Naw, we should probably stop the ground seems very inviting right now..." She moved Comet over to where Obi-Wan was and dismounted, wincing as a sharp pain ran through her hip. She ran a hand through her wet hair and shook her head like a dog.

"No, no, no, you're doing it all wrong! Like this!" He exclaimed, getting up close to her, shaking his head like a dog, sending water flying all over her. All Padmé did was squeal and laugh. She didn't bother to do anything about him, she couldn't have gotten any wetter if she tried, but now as she thought of it, it _was_ terribly cold, since the wind had started to pick up.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes when she didn't fight back.

"You must be really tired or something.

"Wha--" She blinked, "Why?"

"Cause you're not all ornery like usual."

Padmé huffed, a slight smile on her face anyway.

"I'm not ornery."

"Ohh really? Then how come you freak out over nothing all the time?"

She frowned slightly.

"Is that ornery? And you know, I don't freak out over nothing! And define 'all the time'!!"

"All the time would be now and you're freaking a bit right now."

"I am not freaking out! All I want to know is.." She crossed her arms and frowned, shaking her head. "Never mind." She rolled her eyes and turned away, facing Comet, and grabbed her blanket out of the pack and stood underneath the tree, laying the blanket on the ground, plopping herself down as well, groaning as her body ached even more.

"Ahh, comfy." She blinked as a raindrop fell right on her forehead. "Well, it looks like there's only one way to keep warm tonight." She looked up at him, and beamed sweetly, patting the ground next to her. "Unless you want to keep riding and look for a safer/better place for us to stay..."

Obi-Wan's eyebrow raised.

"You're actually inviting me to lay next to you? Wow, that's a first." He said, as he took off Comet's saddle and set it under the tree so it would be semi-dry.

"Yes well, unless you plan on laying 5 feet away from me, freezing your ass off, go ahead." She shrugged, feigning indifference.

"No, I'd prefer to be warm."

"As would I," Padmé added softly, staring into the sky, frowning as a raindrop landed on her forehead, her clothes soaked. "Well..."

"Looks like we're in for a long night." Obi-Wan said, feeling the cold drops fall more frequently on his shoulders and head and picked up the saddle and threw it over in Padmé's direction, landing next to her, and carrying Comet's saddle over. Padmé didn't know whether to take the blanket underneath her out of under her and put it over herself, or keep it there. She watched Obi-Wan, shivering, wishing she had other clothes. Obi-Wan pulled out his blanket from the other saddle.

"I guess we'll just have to use this one as a tent and go without covers tonight."

She nodded, and for some reason the doc's words of Obi-Wan's cold bounced around in her head.

"You're gonna be alright, yeah? I mean, hopefully you won't get sick..." Worry spread across her face as she looked at him.

"Ohh," He shrugged, "I'll be fine, I've been in worse situations." He laid the blanket and saddles over her. "The saddles might not be very good pillows but it's the only thing we got." He got under the blanket with her. Padmé nodded, truth be told she was still worried, but she quickly put her face into an unreadable expression.

"Well," He got the slight wet saddle all situated before looking at her. "Good night."

"Goodnight.." She whispered looking at him, the corner of her mouth lifting in a fleeting smile. Obi-Wan closed his eyes before she smiled and gave a long sigh. Padmé couldn't help but sigh too as she looked away from his face. She laid there, which she soon realized wasn't a very good thing, since she was un-moving, all her aches and pains intensified. She didn't shift, since she didn't want to bother Obi-Wan. As for Obi-Wan...she quickly noticed he kept on adjusting his position, looking slightly annoyed.

"Something wrong?" She whispered, watching him. He didn't answer, all he did was pull up the blanket they were laying on and dig up a mediumish pointy rock from the ground, and threw it over by another tree.

"Damn rocks." He cursed in a whisper. Padmé smiled slightly and went back to laying silently, the sound of Obi-Wan and her's breathing lulling her, her eyes closing, but not sleeping just yet. Obi-Wan shivered again, but chose to ignore it.

Pretty soon Padmé felt herself falling asleep, and the last thing she heard was Obi-Wan's breathing. A bit after Padmé fell asleep, Obi-Wan joined her.

** (Part Two should be up in just a few minutes!)**


	8. And Journey's End Ch 7, Pt 2

**Confrontations At A Lake **

**Chapter Seven – And Journey's End**

**PART TWO**

**(A/N: Alright, here's PART TWO, for you guys! Thank you so much for reading this story! We really appreciate it. Please don't hurt us, for what you will read in this part. We are sad, for what has happened, and we are sorry for what we have done to you, our readers, and especially you, Kenobifan. We know how emotional you are towards our lovely Obidala. Enjoy the read, as much as you can.)**

** (P.S. - If there are any grammar mistakes, please forgive me.)  
**

**A Few Hours Later**

It was still raining and thundering and lightning. Padmé suddenly awoke from the sound of thunder booming, the lightning scaring her. It was so close! She jerked fully awake from more lightning and subconsciously grabbed onto Obi-Wan's arm.

Obi-Wan was only half awakened by the thunder and her touch. He released his arm from her grip and put his arm around her, falling back asleep almost instantly. Her stiffened body didn't relax at his actions, and she dared to even breath as the feel of his arm around her intensified, the weight of it unwanted and yet very much wanted. She blinked in shock and tried to relax, wide awake.

Another loud boom echoed and Obi-Wan didn't move at all, but she stiffened again and wondered at his sleeping. _Did he ever awake from anything? _She squeezed her eyes shut and chanted in her head _It's only thunder, no lightning, it's only thunder_ but as she opened her eyes lightning once again appeared and she would've growled in exasperation had she really felt up to it, but instead she chose to try to relax and fall asleep. Unfortunately for her tortured body and mind she was kept awake all through the night, unable to sleep from the continuous thunder, lightning, and rain.

Much to her surprise and happiness she watched as the sun rose ever so slowly with tired bloodshot eyes. She turned her head as she felt Obi-Wan move. He woke up, still tired, having constantly been woken up, than fallen back asleep again. He felt his arm around something and opened his eyes to see Padmé looking at him.

"Umm..." He took his arm around slowly, "Sorry.."

Padmé couldn't help but yawn.

"No, it's alright." She barely got those three words out before another yawn escaped her mouth, a hand covering it, shaking her head, as if to keep herself awake.

"Didn't get much sleep last night either?" Obi-Wan asked, yawning before throwing the blanket off of them.

"No," She answered simply, shaking her head and yawning again. "I didn't sleep at all, I couldn't sleep, actually." She shivered as the blanket was thrown off of her, and continued to lay in the same spot, her arms hugging herself.

"Aww..cold?" A smirk was thrown her way, as well as the blanket, before Obi-Wan turned to dig an apple out of the saddlebag.

"I forgot for a second that you can be such an ass.." She muttered loud enough so he could actually hear her, while she grabbed the blanket and threw it over herself, closing her eyes, still laying down.

"I'm never going to let you forget that one, love." Came his response, as he cut the apple in half, gently laying one half next to Padmé. "Eat up, we have to get going."

She sighed and grabbed the apple, taking a bit, chewing. "Yeah...yeah..." Still, she didn't move from her position. Obi-Wan ate his apple in two bits before he picked up the semi-wet saddle and walked over to the brown horse who was tied to a nearby tree. Padmé ate her half quickly and stood up, her stomach quesy. She sighed when she noticed _everything_ about her was wet.

"We might just have to start a fire tomorrow night to dry everything off." Obi-Wan whistled for Comet as Padmé ran a hand through her wet hair and wrapped the blanket around herself, walking over to Comet, her boots splashing in the small puddles.

"Ready?" Obi-Wan stood next to the brown, looking over at her.

She nodded and covered her mouth as she yawned. "Yeah," she blinked tiredly, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I'm guessin'..."

Obi-Wan mounted and started at a slow trot, waiting for her. As Padmé mounted Comet, she was kind of glad that she hadn't slept, than the nightmares hadn't plagued her mind. She nudged Comet into a trot, following closely behind Obi-Wan, yawning again.

"We'd better pick up the pace if we're going to make it in time..." He looked over at her, his smirk on his face. "Wanna race?"

"Nooooo,"she shook her head slowly, looking up from the saddle, sitting up straighter. "Not really...but, "she waved her hand feebly in a gesturing forward motion. "You can go ahead...Ill be right behind you."

Obi-Wan pretended to pout. "Awww, you have the faster horse. I know Comet can outrun basically any other horse."

"So? What if I fall off, huh? Hmm, just leave me there, I'll fall asleep. The ground sounds comfy right now." She stared down at the passing ground, yawning again.

"Yeah, and wet. Alright, I see you're too scared. We'll just go a little faster and be boring for your sake." He finished, smiling to himself. Exactly as he thought, she took the bait.

"Who ever said anything about being scared?!" She asked, incredulously. "_And_ I am NOT boring!" She sat up straighter in the saddle again, glaring at him, before much to his disappointment she sighed and slumped down, her eyes closed.

"Do you know how far away we are?"

"We'll probably get there a few hours past noon, I'd guess." Silence enveloped them, and nothing more was said.

**One Hour Later**

Padmé was still slumped in the saddle, her eyes closed. She had fallen asleep long ago, and much to her luck she had yet to fall off the saddle. Although, she was leaning a bit too much to the right...

Obi-Wan's heart thudded in his chest and he forced his ears to listen attentively as suddenly his horse became skittish. Just as he turned his head to the right, his eyes widened as a wolf lunged at them from the bushes, five other wolves behind him. The brown horse neighed in fright and reared on it's hind legs, making Obi-Wan fall to the ground, covering his head as the horse fought to defend itself, stepping on him in the process.

"PADMÉ! SWORD!" He yelled at her, still covering his head, praying to whatever gods were out there that the wolves would be preoccupied with the horse for awhile. Padmé was wide awake and continued to struggle with Comet not to rear on his hind legs. She almost fell off the horse as she struggled to unsheathed Obi-Wan's sword.

"Obi-Wan! HERE!" She threw the sword in his direction, than struggled to find her dagger, cursing at Comet as he turned around in circles., her heart beating so fast she thought she'd have a heart attack. The sword landed, sticking out of the ground a few yards away, Obi-Wan struggled to crawl over to it. Comet neighed in horror and reared on his hind legs, making Padmé fall to the ground, screaming. She searched frantically for her dagger, which had come out of her grip as she fell. She gasped sharply for breath as she reached for it.

A wolf stepped in between Obi-Wan and the sword, growling, hate in it's eyes.

"Shit..." Another wolf came out of nowhere and jumped onto his back, sinking it's teeth into his shoulder around the arrow wound. He screamed and somehow managed to throw the wolf off of his back, making another dive for the sword.

Padmé's fingers clasped around the dagger hilt and she quickly moved to somehow get up at the same time a wolf sunk it's teeth into the calf of her right leg. She screamed and as quickly as she could manage she stabbed the wolf in the side. It screamed and let go of her leg. The wolf backed up as Comet pranced around her, the wolf bled, but growled, still watching her.

Just as Obi-Wan grabbed the sword hilt, the wolf that had bitten him on the shoulder lunged at him, swiping his cheek with his claws as he swung the sword into the wolf's ribs. As the wolf landed he slashed it's shoulder, making it lame, but he could tell it was still as pissed off as ever. He stabbed the wounded wolf in the heart as it lunged for his ankle, killing it. Comet neighed as the wolf lunged at Padmé. It landed on her chest, which pushed her onto the ground with a grunt, slashing her right arm with it's claws. She screamed as she tried to gain control over the pain and actually see properly. She tightened the grip on her dagger and jabbed upwards, relief flooding through her, the pounding in her head increasing as the wolf slumped on top of her, dead. She immediately found herself freaking out, and frantically pushed the body off of her. Padmé quickly scrambled up, dagger in hand. She grabbed onto Comet's reins, fumbling for the bow and arrows, as she tried to mount him.

Obi-Wan swung at a wolf, who leaped out of the way, as another wolf attacked him from behind, biting him in the back of his arm. Just as Padmé mounted Comet a wolf jumped out of nowhere and lunged at her, scratching her back with it's claws. She screamed as she pulled her arm back, the blade digging into the wolf's skull, killing it.

Obi-Wan grunted and struggled to throw the wolf off, but just for his luck, another one jumped at his sword arm, it's claws digging into his chest, biting his wrist, forcing him to drop the sword. Padmé sheathed her bloody dagger quickly before moving to grab onto the bow and arrow, stringing one, aiming for the wolves which were attacking Obi-Wan. She let the arrow fly and it sunk into the wolf's skull, the one which had been biting his wrist. She quickly stringed another arrow as Comet pranced around in circles.

The wolf on his front fell away, as did the one on his back, as a large black wolf jumped at him, aiming for his neck. Obi-Wan stuck his hands out in front of him, as he had no sword, and caught the wolf's jaws as it lunged at him, it's teeth digging into his palms as it stood over him, snarling, spit and blood falling to the ground. His heart thudded even harder in his chest as he saw one of the wolves that had backed up from him run at Comet, making him rear up.

Padmé cried out as her grip loosened on the reins and she fell, landing in the mud, the bow and arrows falling away from her. She struggled to get her breath back as she quickly scrambled over to them. She reached them and fumbled to get the arrow in place. She let the arrow fly and it hit, striking the black wolf in the side, embedding itself there.

The black wolf howled in pain and backed off Obi-Wan, immediately trying to recover. The wolf which had jumped at Comet was still there, and it lunged at Padmé. Obi-Wan saw this and quickly grabbed his sword and threw it at the wolf, hitting it's mark, the wolf landing only a few inches away from Padmé. The black wolf had recovered during this and it lunged at Obi-Wan, sinking it's teeth into his thigh, before it struggled off into the forest, a trail of blood following him.

Obi-Wan was still sitting on his elbow, propped up, looking over at Padmé, to make sure she was ok and got up. Padmé had been sitting up half ish but by now her body had betrayed her and she was laying in the mud. She gasped and sobbed for breath, almost hyperventilating. She choked on air as she struggled to stand, to get herself over to where Obi-Wan was. Tears never marred her face, they never once reached her eyes. She was to be brave, and to be brave meant no tears. For her, it did.

Relief flooded through him as he saw her moving. He laid back down on the ground, fighting the dizziness and feeling of nausea.

Padmé somehow made it over to him, and plopped herself down to him, looking him over with concern.

"Obi-Wan, come on. We.." She panted for breath as pain seized her body, it felt like her mind was going into shock. "Need to get out of here." She slapped his face lightly, his eyes were closing. "Come on Kenobi. I need you..." She grabbed onto what was left of his shirt and pulled, grunting with effort, trying to make him sit up. "I need you to stay awake with me while I save your ass, so you'll actually know I did." She tried not to sound so scared. Obi-Wan gave her a small smirk.

"Get Comet over here.." He whispered, barely being able to be heard from Padmé. She immediately stopped pulling on his shirt and looked over to where Comet was. She laid her hands on his chest, too weak to barely keep herself up.

"Comet...get over here!" She yelled that loudly, hoarsely, resisting the urge to lay down and never get up again as Comet trotted over to them. Comet smelled him and than licked his face like a dog.

"Knell" Obi-Wan whispered, his vision starting to go black. His head jerked when Padmé slapped him again, this time harder.

"Hey, no, you stay awake, you hear me? You can't leave me like this.." Her last sentence come out in her scared voice, her facade had slipped. She once again pulled on him, making him sit up, her arms aching. Obi-Wan tried desperately to stay with her.

"I'm here..." He started up sit up with her help, almost falling into unconsciousness. Comet kneels his front two legs, making it easier to mount up.

"Get me on Comet." He tried to help her get him up, but really wasn't helping too much.

"Yeah.." She grunted as she pulled on him again, trying to get him onto the saddle. "I—figured that.." She pulled on him with all her strength. She wasy by now was behind him, her arms under his arms, and around his chest, dragging him onto the saddle.

"Now..don't get too comfy.." She panted that out, fighting nausea all the sudden. Obi-Wan suddenly smirked.

"Yes, I enjoy being carried by a woman while I'm basically helpless." His voice could barely be heard over her panting.

"I surprisingly..." She tried not to look at all the blood. As she stood up she staggered backwards, fighting unconsciousness. "Surprisingly..." She turned around and grabbed the bow and arrows and his sword, sheathing it. "Figured that out too." She finally said, as she waited for Comet to get up on all fours. She mounted him and exhaled a shaky breath. Obi-Wan was behind her, slumped against her back, slipping deeper into unconsciousness.

"Obi-Wan, I need to know how to get to Cornwall." She said that urgently, as she twisted her body painfully to cup his face, making him look in her the eye.

"Just head, "he struggled to speak, "west...can't miss the stone walls." He breathed that out, falling into unconsciousness.

Padmé longed to cry with frustration as she faced the front.

"Well which way is fraking west..." She looked to the sky, and quickly pulled on Comet's reins and nudged him into a trot, heading west, fighting nausea, and unconsciousness from the pain, and she winced as she moved, blood dripping down her body, falling to the ground, mixing with the soil, to be left there forever.

* * *

Padmé squinted to see the stone walls ahead of them. She made sure to hide in the trees, and stopped Comet from any further movement, and dismounted, almost falling over as blackness threatened to overcome her as she landed on the ground. She made sure to stay hidden in the shadows as she counted how many guards there were, to how many arrows she had. Obi-Wan continued to be slumped over, his head against Comet's neck. 

Padmé quickly grabbed the bows and arrows, her heart lifting with thanks as she realized she had enough. She notched one and drew the bowstring back, aiming for the guard on the left of the gate. She notched the next arrow as her first one hit the man in the face.

"Shit..." She mounted Comet as quickly as she could, as she saw the top-guards were already sounding a warning, and were moving to the ground, ready to search the premises. She trotted deeper into the forest, and dismounted once they were in the far back, listening closely, trying not to breath loudly, her heart hammering. Obi-Wan was still slumped in the saddle, unaware of the present danger.

The guard that had sounded the warning came from the top of the wall, and started out towards the forest, searching the grounds with about five other men. Padmé's knuckles turned white as she gripped her dagger as the men came closer. She sheathed her dagger before she grabbed the bow and last arrow, searching, her eyes hardening with determination. She would not go down without a fight. Not after all they had been through. Behind her Obi-Wan started to come out of his state, not realizing yet what was going on around him.

The same guard came out of the brush and drew his bow as he saw Padmé, and a man right behind her. Unfortunately for him, Padmé had raised her bow before him, and her arrow was already embedded in his flesh before he knew what was happening. He fell to the ground with a cry, dead before he hit the soil. Another guard behind him took his place and drew his bowstring. Obi-Wan had finally become aware of his surroundings and started to dismount painfully as the first guard dropped to the round, and as the other notched his arrow.

Padmé's eyes widen in horror as she realized she was out of arrows. The bow dropped to the ground as she reached over the saddle and grabbed the hilt of the sword, her other hand holding her dagger. She quickly threw the dagger at the guard, praying that the few times she'd done this would pay off. The guard let go of his arrow just as the dagger buried itself in his face, other guards coming up behind him to take them to custody. Obi-Wan was off the saddle before the man loosed his arrow, and he tackled Padmé to the ground, pushing her out of the line of fire, and put himself into it, the arrow slamming into his ribs.

"OBI-WAN!" She cried out his name as she hit the ground, nearly passing out from the pain. She managed to get up and look at him, her eyes wide, staring at the arrow in his ribs. Tears stung her eyes, her bloody hands clutched his shirt, all too aware that the guards were near.

"I'm so sorry.." She whispered, tears running down her face as she bent down and kissed him with everything in her. She reached out for him again as a hand wrapped around her injured arm, yanking her away from him, guards surrounding them.

"It's not your fault, love." Obi-Wan whispered, pain crossing his face as the guards lifted him up roughly. His heart thudded in his chest as he reflected over the kiss, surprised.

Obi-Wan kept his eyes on her until they were separated by the trees.


	9. I Love You

**Confrontations at a Lake**

**Chapter Eight – I Love You**

**(A/N: Managed to update this story. Enjoy!) **

Padmé soon found herself being pulled/dragged on a muddy road, away from the protection of the forest, much to her great dismay. She knew that any second now she would pass out. The pain was excruciating. She readily welcomed the thought of blackness, though. She stumbled over her own feet, not really caring what happened to herself at the moment. She landed on her knees in the mud, not moving until the guard roughly pulled her up, making her cry out at the pressure on her arm. Worry crept into her heart and mind for Obi-Wan, she knew he was behind her.

Obi-Wan was being carried right behind her. Two guards, one on each side, pulled him along. He didn't make any effort to walk by himself, as his knees were dragged through the still wet ground. Obi-Wan passed out halfway to the palace.

Padmé slowly looked up from the ground, to find they were already inside the city. She immediately curled up into a ball as she was dumped into a cell, trying not to cry out. She lay there shivering, blood pooling around her. Soon she became weaker and weaker, a few tears leak down her cheeks and onto the floor, mixing with her blood. She put a trembling hand over her mouth, trying to calm herself down. She sucked in a deep breath and whimpered, as even that hurt, and her body stiffened when she felt something touch her back.

In the cell across from her, Obi-Wan laid in the middle of it, a shard of light falling a few inches in front of his face, blood already pooled around him.

Padmé painfully moved her neck and body, pain crossing her face. Her eyes widened as she saw what had touched her. Her body trembled, her heart hammered with fear, but she found herself in too much pain to move.

"Hello there, princess." Her cell-mate croaked, smiling down at her. It wasn't a pleasant smile, it was more of a menacing looking type of smile, yellow tobacco stained teeth showing. If he was any closer she would've been able to smell his horrid breath. His body odor was enough to make her want to gag.

"W-what...what do you want." Her voice was hoarse, every part of her body yelling at her to get up and move away, but she was weak..so weak.

"What in _Gods_ name happened to you, princess. You look like you'll die any second now." Her cell-mate moved back to his side of the cell. He was so dirty he looked like he was made as part of the wall.

"I am dieing..." Her voice was barely a whisper, as she stared at the side of the cell, her back to him again. Tears leaked down her cheeks. "I am dieing..." She cried harder, thinking of Obi-Wan. Quickly she struggled to sit up somehow, her bloody hands clutched the bars, and she called out his name, as she tried not to sob.

"Obi-Wan! Obi-Wan, wake up! Please!" She sobbed harder, her grip loosening on the bars. "_Please..._"

Her cell-mate moved. "CARSON! Wake up your new cell-mate." That command came out as a growl, before he moved back to his seat.

The man in the other cell moved, putting a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder, shaking it slowly. "Hey..."

Obi-Wan suddenly snapped away, his fingers curled around the man's wrist, holding tight, a look of hatred in his eyes. He realized that the man didn't want to hurt him...at least not at the moment...and let go, his arm splashed back into his blood. He laid his head down again, fighting the urge to cry out from the pain in moving anything.

"Obi-Wan?" Padmé called his name softly, still clutching the bars, tears on her face, no longer sobbing. He lifted his head at the sound of his name, than laid it back down, the scratch on his cheek was red from the blood on the floor.

"Hey, love." She barely heard him, his voice was so soft. He was oblivious to his cell-mate's movements. He was still slightly shocked from Obi-Wan's fast movements.

"I'm scared Obi-Wan.." She whispered to him, tears in her eyes again. She wished she would stop crying, she wished that this all wasn't her fault. She wished the pain would go away. She wished many things, but she knew it was pointless to even think about them.

"It's ok Padmé. You didn't do anything. I shot everyone and you were just on the horse with me. You weren't involved in any illegal activity." He whispered back to her, shocked that he had gotten that all out.

"No, no, you can't do that Obi-Wan. I won't let you take all the blame!" The pain intensified as her fingers clutched the bars even harder, blood dripping to the floor. "This is all my fault." She moaned as she let go of the bars. "All my fault. I'm so sorry..so sorry.." Padmé knew nothing except the guilt that burned her heart and mind. It consumed her. It nagged at her.

"No, don't blame yourself." Her heart beat with worry as she heard him cough, and saw him shiver, she knew pain moved through him. "They're going to kill me anyway. You've got your whole life ahead of you.."

"So do you." Anguish was evident in those three words. She shivered violently, nearly passing out as pain moved through her body. She would've fallen over had she not grabbed the bars again, her knuckles going white.

"No," He shook his head as best he could, "You said before I've screwed up my life, and you were right. I'm not going to come out of this alive, but I want you to be able to move on. Get on the right track in life." He coughed again, he sounded as if he was going to cough out his guts.

"No, you're wrong." Padmé tried so hard not to cry, wishing what he was saying wouldn't become true, "We'll get out of this, both of us, alive, in one piece. You can't give up, I haven't."

"I wish that were true." He looked sideways at the floor, sadness in his voice. He looked back up at her. "It's the end of the line for me, Padmé. I need a miracle to get out of this one."

Her heart sunk to the ground as she listened to him.

"You don't know that, you honestly don't." Tears continued to roll down her face. "You can't...oh, why did you have to steal that damned diamond!" she suddenly yelled at him. She was angry at him, but she knew she wouldn't be. "You can be such a fool sometimes!"

Obi-Wan looked at the floor sadly, "I know."

"That's it? You're not going to defend yourself? Are you just going to be a coward again? That's all you've done your entire life, isn't it. Running away from things you didn't like."

He continued to look down, and he realized she was right. Even if she was wrong, he wouldn't have fought her.

"Yes."

"You're not going to say anything are you. You're just going to _sit_ there and _wait_ for your death, aren't you. Well, I won't let you die!"

"Padmé...there's nothing you can do." He whispered this, as if he didn't want her to hear. "It's over."

"Just because you say there's nothing I can do doesn't make it true!"

He continued to look at the ground, unmoving.

"Then what do you suggest."

Padmé let go of the bars and sunk back to the floor, crying out as her wounds scraped against the floor, blood oozing. She quickly curled up on her side, and tried to stay silent.

"I don't know...I really don't, but I don't want you to die. I don't want to lose you." Her words came out in a whisper, a fearful whisper.

"I don't want to go either..but I can't take back the things I've done. And as my last good deed I want you to get out of this alive."

Padmé laid there and said nothing, she couldn't think of anything, her heart was beating with dread, fear not far behind.

"Just," he coughed again, "listen to me this once. Please?"

"Of course." Her voice was void of any emotion, as if she was trying to detach herself from...herself. Surprisingly Obi-Wan smirked, a real smile still evading his lips.

"Thanks."

Padmé continued to lay there, saying nothing. She inhaled deeply, wincing as pain ripped through her sharply. She stared at nothing, her eyes unseeing.

Obi-Wan's closing eyes suddenly snapped open, and he actually sat up, despite his body's cries.

"The diamond.." he breathed, "Where is it?!" He practically yelled.

"I..." She paused, thinking, "...with Comet." Those two words were said softly, almost as if she didn't care, but her eyes widened as she came to realize. "With Comet!" She almost yelled that, sitting up as well, groaning in pain.

Obi-Wan put his head in his hands. "Ohh...no, no, no! They're going to ask. I won't even be able to lie, because I don't know the truth!" To Padmé, he seemed to be panicking.

"What are they going to do to you, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan didn't really know himself, but he decided to lie.

"They probably don't know about it...we're in different regions. I'm sure they don't communicate too much."

"You're lying." She stared right at him.

"Well, there's not too much left that they can do, or I won't be living. I wouldn't worry about that. Let's just get our story straight."

Two guards started walking down the hallway, their boots echoing throughout the aisle, alerting everyone of their presence. Obi-Wan heard them coming and he knew they didn't have much time.

"Just follow my lead, alright?"

"Yeah," Padmé nodded, trying to hide the scared look on her face.

The guards opened their cells and picked them up, pulling them along down the corridor. They soon were dumped before the King, wincing as they landed on their knees roughly. King Adama looked at Kenobi.

"You've been charged with so many things, I don't even want to name them all. You've been sentenced to hang. Anything to say for yourself?"

Obi-Wan stayed silent, looking down at the floor.

"Good," King Adama looked over to the girl, then back at Kenobi, "Who's she?"

Obi-Wan shrugged, still not speaking.

The King turned to her, expecting her name.

"Evey Hammond, your Highness." Padmé said softly, in a different accent than her usual one, looking at him straight in the eye. The King continued to stare to stare at her for a few seconds, meeting her eyes, before he looked away.

"I have never heard of you. How did you wind up here?"

Obi-Wan continued to stay quiet, though he was surprised by the fake name she had just come up with, and with her accent.

Padmé looked away from the King, to stare at the ground.

"He...he..took...he took me as..." Tears brimmed her eyes and she pretended to choke on her words, as if she really was going to cry. She couldn't continue speaking, and stared at the ground, her heart hammering, hoping that Obi-Wan would get the point.

Obi-Wan sighed and hung his head, defeatedly. "I kidnapped her, then wouldn't let her go."

"Tsk tsk. Charges just keep adding up for you, don't they?"

Obi-Wan kept his head down, glancing at Padmé out of the corner of his eyes. Padmé continued to stare at the ground. She didn't dare look at anyone, or say anything.

"Well, now that that is out of the way, to my real business. Where's the diamond?"

Obi-Wan kept his head down, offering no answer.

King Adama turned to the girl and asked her nicely. "Do you know where he hid it?" Obi-Wan glanced at her like he had before, his eyes pleading.

"I never saw him hide it, your Highness." Padmé said softly, still continuing to speak in her different accent. What she said _was_ true, she had never seen Obi-Wan hide any diamond, he had hid it before he had ever asked her to join him.

The King nodded thoughtfully, than turned back to Kenobi. "Smart move, not involving the girl." He leaned in closer to him, "Now, you can either tell me now and be hanged tomorrow, or we'll force it out of you, and than hang you. Which do you prefer?"

_"Neither."_ Obi-Wan thought in his head. He said nothing out loud and stared at the King defiantly.

The King smiled and leaned back, folding his hands in front of him. "I see." He looked at the guards. "Take them away. Throw Kenobi in a cell alone, and release the girl to a doctor."

The guards lifted them up roughly, and dragged them out of the King's room to just outside the door. They stopped outside the door, as they would be separating the man and woman now.

Obi-Wan stepped closer to Padmé and leaned down, kissing her passionately. "_**I love you**_." He whispered in her ear. He stepped back, his eyes showing he meant it. Obi-Wan kept his eyes on hers as the guard jerked him away down the hallway. His heart nearly broke as all she did was sob, she didn't say anything. Nothing at all. He looked away from her, than back at her, at her face. He knew this would be the last time he would see her. He hung his head as her sobbing continued.

Padmé continued to sob, tears gushing down her face as he was being pulled away from her. Before she could utter anything, she was roughly dragged through a door and out of the palace. The guard barged through a door of a hut just one hundred yards from the castle. Through her haze Padmé barely noticed a woman, not much older than herself, jump up from her seat and glare at the guard as he dropped her out from under his grip. Padmé would've fallen to the floor with exhaustion and pain and depression, had the healer not caught her and set her on the bed.

"What is the meaning of this?" the healer snapped, her hands on her hips.

"She was sent from the King." The guard said bluntly, before walking out, leaving the healer and Padmé alone.

The healer bent down to the almost unconscious girl and winced as she saw the extent of her injuries.

"What have you gotten yourself into, my daughter.." She whispered as she moved Padmé into more of a comfortable position, her expression sad as the girl cried out in pain. She quickly got up and grabbed the salve and cloth.

"I'll help you as much as I can." The healer, who's name was Aeryn, said, to the quiet room.

---

Obi-Wan was thrown into a smaller, much lonelier cell. He laid his head on the ground, breathing hard. A few tears slid down his face, as he thought of Padmé, hoping she was safe. A man came in a few minutes later.

"So, the King tells me you have some information that he wants." The man started pacing in front of Obi-Wan. "Last chance, or I'm taking you through hell and back." Obi-Wan stayed silent.

Captain Rohl smirked at his silence. "I see you're going to be a fun one to break. See you at dawn." He strolled out, looking almost...happy.

---

Aeryn turned her head as she heard a moan and something akin to a sob coming from the girl. She hurried over to her, soothing her hair from her face, staring at her pretty face.

"Tell me, what is your name?" She asked softly.

Padmé struggled to open her eyes, wondering where the hell she was. She blinked and was grateful that her eyes focused on a woman beside her.

"E-Evey.." Her tongue wasn't working for some unknown reason. Luckily, out of some unkown miracle, she had still gotten her accent to work. She suddenly cried out as the woman touched a wound on her arm. Padmé had no strength to move, at all.

---

Obi-Wan opened his eyes after a few minutes, and looked around his cell. Only a shard of light, smaller than the one in the previous cell, fell onto the floor. Obi-Wan turned to look out his small window, but fell back to his original position, since he traitorous body didn't allow movement. He looked down to his side to see a shaft of wood sticking out a few inches, from the arrow that he had taken, instead of Padmé. He sucked in a deep breath as he reached over and grabbed onto the shaft, preparing himself for the pain. Obi-Wan realized that this would make him bleed even more, but he didn't care. He pulled out the shaft and arrow, crying out simultaneously, breaking the silence of the cell block. He threw the shaft away with all of his strength. It only landed a few feet away. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and slipped into unconsciousness again.

---

"Well, Evey, my name is Aeryn, and I am here to help you. You may pass out from the pain, but that is for the best. I don't really know how long it will take you to heal. It all depends on the full extent of your injuries. I'm not expecting you to tell me how you got these injuries, nor about yourself. I don't also expect you to stay here after you heal. What I do expect you to be is cooperative." Aeryn said all this as she got the salve and cloth ready, wiping blood off her wounds. As most of the blood was gone, she looked into Evey's eyes. "Are you ready?"

At the girl's nod she put the salve on one of the wounds on her arm, knowing she should by now be immune by Evey's cries of pain, and after only a few minutes, her cries subsided. She was unconscious. Aeryn continued to put salve on her wounds, and wrapped the cloth around her arm. She moved the girl onto her side and gasped as she saw more wounds on her back. Aeryn positioned Evey onto her stomach and proceeded to lift her clothes and put salve and wrap the cloth around her middle section.

---

Obi-Wan cringed as he heard metal against metal. He opened his eyes, wondering what was going on. Obi-Wan could barely see into the aisle, as it was so dark, but he finally saw a guard passing, his sword tapping against each bar of the cell as he walked by. Obi-Wan sighed in annoyance and laid his head back down in the uncomfortable position, and fell back asleep, only to be woken up again about an hour or so by the same noise which continued every hour or so until dawn.

---

Aeryn was sitting in a chair, dozing next to Evey's bed when she heard a sound. She opened her eyes slowly.

Padmé jerked awake in bed, gasping in pain as her body moved. Her back arched off the bed as her hands clutched the bedsheets, her knuckles going white. A whimper escaped her lips as she tried to lay down comfortably, without setting her back on fire. Tears slide down her temples as suddenly she thought of Obi-Wan, her heart breaking as their last scene unfolded in her mind.

Aeryn tried to settle Evey into a more comfortable position. She didn't ask why she was crying, she just wished she could take the pain away.

"Shh, it's alright. You'll be fine.."

"I-I'm s-sorry." Padmé gasped that out, as she tried not to move, staring at the ceiling, still crying.

"For what?" Aeryn frowned, sitting back into her chair.

"F-For not being co-cooperative." Padmé's eyes shifted from the ceiling to Aeryn.

Aeryn laughed softly, much to Padmé's surprise.

"Oh hon, this is about as cooperative as I expected you, or your body to be. You're no problem at all, I've had much worse. Don't worry, I'm here to help you and in no time you'll be out and about, doing what you usually do."

Padmé stayed quiet and continued to stare at the ceiling, wondering. What DID she usually do? She wasn't a thief, like Obi-Wan, and when she had lived with her mother, she had just been a common girl, working to survive, and ever since her mother had died...well, her life hadn't been the same. Her heart sunk as she realized that she really had nothing to do fater she was healed. She would be alone, with no money. Padmé suddenly found herself becoming tired, and since she didn't fight the sensation, her eyes closed and she feel asleep quickly.

Aeryn got up from her chair, stretching her worn body, groaning as her back cracked. She moved to the window and stared into the sky, seeing it was dawn. She sighed and looked at Evey again.

"How am I going to help you get through all this, girl. You have more troubles than I care to count.." She murmured to herself softly.

---

Obi-Wan woke up to that sound of the sword on the bars again, and he almost fell back asleep, but the light outside caught his attention. It must be dawn. To serve his suspicious right, a guard grabbed him and hauled him down a hallway. He was thrown into a white room. His eyes immediately noticed bandages sitting on a cart, next to a table with a basin filled with water next to it. His brows furrowed with confusion as this looked to be a healer's room instead of a torture chamber. He was just about to attempt to stand up when a middle-aged man walked into the room, different guards behind him. Captain Rohl strolled in right after him. The guards picked him up and set him on the table, tieing his hands together in front of him. Captain Rolh smirked as he felt Kenobi's stare on him.

"Ohh, don't worry, I'm just here for when you crack. You already know the question so I won't bother asking it again." Rohl crossed his arms and leaned against the wall comfortably.

"I don't kno-" Obi-Wan's sentence was cut short by his cry as water touched his back. It normally would've felt wonderful, had it not been saltwater. The salt dripped down his back, burning his wounds from the wolves and arrow, and continued past those, hitting other smaller scratches. Obi-Wan than felt a bandage being wrapped around his shoulder, and he glared at the Captain.

"Why?"

"Why? Because we can't have you dieing before we know what we need, now can we? Don't worry, the salt water might actually help against infection."

Obi-Wan bit his lip as the doctor cleaned his side wound from the arrow, and dressed it. He than was thrown back into his cell, the salt still burning. His hands were still tied, giving him no way to stop it. He wondered how long it would be before they came back, hoping this would be all for the day. He laid his head down on the ground and hoped to catch some sleep, finding none.

---

A few hours later Padmé began to toss and turn in her bed, groaning in her sleep as pressure was inflicted on her wounds. She was having a nightmare. Everything she saw was so vivid, as if she really was there.

_Obi-Wan was in a dark lonely cell, she found herself standing in front of the bars, staring down at him. She blinked and suddenly she was seeing Obi-Wan getting tortured, hearing his cries of pain. Her heart felt as if it was being crushed, she couldn't bare to watch. The scene changed again, Obi-Wan was sitting in his cell again. Padmé blinked, and suddenly she was in his cell, standing right next to him. Just as she reached to touch his cheek she found that everything around her was going black. She was being sucked away from him. She reached out her hand, and as she became further and further away from him, the harder she struggled.** Noooooooo!!** She couldn't see him anymore. _

"Noooooooo!!" Padmé jerked awake in bed, tears on her cheeks, her breathing ragged, her heart hammering. She looked around her wildly.

"Shh, daughter mine." Aeryn was right beside her, smoothing her hair from her face, dabbing her sweating face with a cloth.

"You were just having a nightmare. Now that you are awake, do you find yourself suitable for some stew? You probably haven't had solid food in awhile, so I doubt your body would accept such things right now." Aeryn watched as Padmé blinked slowly, she knew that the girl was trying to come back to reality. She waited patiently for her answer, and smiled slightly as they bother heard a grumble coming from Padmé's stomach.

"Yes...I would appreciate some food at the moment." Padmé kept chanting in her head that she was never to forget to use her 'new and different' accent while she was here, she didn't want an accidental slip, and make people question things. She looked at Aeryn and actually managed a small tiny smile in her direction. She watched as Aeryn scooped a bit of the stew into a small bowl before walking to her side again. Aeryn set the bowl on the side table before she helped Evey sit up, wincing as she cried out in pain. She sat down in the chair comfortably and set the bowl in her lap.

"Would you prefer to have me feed you, or you feed yourself?" Aeryn already knew the answer, but asked the question anyway.

A smile didn't grace Evey's features this time, but the look in her eyes told Aeryn what she wanted. Padmé took the bowl and set it in her lap, moving her right arm gingerly, picking up the spoon. She blew on the stew and tried a bit.

"This is wonderful, almost as good as my mother's..." She ended her sentence abruptly as she realized she had slipped about her Mum. Memories of their great times together sailed through her mind, and she became sad.

"And how did you get in such a situation, away from your mother? She must be in a terrible fit. If I were why I-"

"She's dead," Padmé interrupted sharply, "My mother's dead." She glared at Aeryn as she saw the healer's eyes soften with pity. "No, I'm alright. I don't need, nor do I want your pity. Everyone loses someone eventually, it's part of life. I've gotten over my mother's death, as I will with what happened to..." Padmé paused, and whispered his name, "Obi-Wan..." Her voice was laced with pain, or regret, or perhaps both. Much to Aeryn's surprise, she suddenly moved the bowl away from her lap. "I'm suddenly not hungry."

"But you've hardly taken even two bi-"

"Thank you for the stew, but perhaps later I will eat again. I hope that this sleep now will be peaceful.." She closed her eyes, her head touched the pillow.

"Sleep well, Evey." Aeryn said softly, moving away from the bed.

Padmé said nothing. Instead she looked away from Aeryn and to the wall, a few tears leaking down her cheeks, her heart constricting as the name 'Evey' bounced in her head. An image of Obi-Wan appeared in her mind, but she quickly banished it as she fell asleep.


	10. Nightmares of Reality

**Confrontations at a Lake**

**Chapter Nine – Nightmares of Reality**

**(A/N: This probably will be the last chapter that I will update in awhile. I, to put it nicely, am _unable _to be on the computer, until around the middle of July, to be actually able to RP with Obi-Wan. Sorry for the inconvenience, my friends. Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy!)  
**

Obi-Wan was thrown back into his cell, rolling until he painfully hit the wall. Ice water still dripped from his hair and growing beard. He squeezed the water out of his hair, into his hand, and drank it up, savoring every drop. Nothing all that bad had happened today, just some extremely cold ice water, and an up-in-your-face interrogator. They were probably letting him heal a bit before they started in on the real torture. He looked up towards his small window, and guessed it to be early morning. Padmé was never awake this early in the morning, and he'd always taken a few minutes to watch her sleep. Her face had no lines or sour expressions that were always directed towards him. She was always beautiful in the morning light. Obi-Wan sighed and closed his eyes, imagining her face, smiling to him.

---

Padmé was burning up with fever. She was delirious and thrashing in bed, moaning unintelligible words, from where Aeryn was standing, anyway. Her mouth pinched into a frown as she walked over to the girl, wiping her face with a wet cloth.

"No..have..no..don't do this." Padmé moaned in pain, thrashing around again. She groaned these words out in her delirium at an invisible enemy. "Leave...must...save...I have to save him..." Her fingers clutched the bedsheet tightly, tears on her cheeks, the scene of him being taken away replaying in her mind, in this delirium of hell. Aeryn frowned and ignored her words, until she started thrashing even harder.

---

Obi-Wan laid his body down and curled up, trying to sleep. The image of Padmé's beautiful face helped him fall asleep quickly in his small cell. He fell asleep peacefully for the first time since he'd been there, and stayed that way for several minutes before he started to dream.

//_Padmé was there, being attacked by wolves. He was too, but he could've done something. Saved her. Anything. She lay on the ground. For a few seconds he thought her to be dead and his heart cried out, but she moved. Thank the Gods she was moving, he fell over. Padmé...she was over him now, trying to help him. To feel her touch was heartwarming. He felt like he was safe, thought far from it._

_He couldn't see anything for a few minutes, but then he woke up, to see her firing her arrow at a guard of some sort. How'd they get here, and why were the guards attacking them? Nothing mattered as he saw the man fall and another come to take his place, pulling his arm back to fire an arrow at her._

_He was hurt badly. She would definitely live. She didn't deserve an arrow. He practically fell off Comet and jumped in the arrow's path, pushing her out of the way. He heard his name screamed out in surprise and horror. She landed on top of him, shock all over her face. The only thing that mattered was she was safe. Her hands were in his shirt now and she was crying._

_He wished she wouldn't cry. "I'm so sorry..." she said. Sorry for what? he wondered. She'd been the best thing that happened to him. He loved her, why was she sorry? She kissed him. She just leaned down and kissed him. It could've been a kiss of gratitude, but it didn't feel like that. It felt real, like she really loved him, really wanted to kiss him. He felt so wonderful, even after all the pain he'd been through. _

_Somehow he managed to speak, "It's not your fault, love." He would've caressed her cheek had he found the will to move. He felt numb. Paralyzed. Guards yanked them up. He needed to tell her he loved her. He didn't know how much time he had left. He swore he heard a boom, like the false floor of the gallows, falling out...//_

Obi-Wan awoke with a start and looked around frantically. The noise...it was only the sword against the bars of his cell. He looked around a bit more, calmly this time, breathing hard from his dream. _Why?_ He asked himself.

---

"You have to save who, Evey?" Aeryn asked softly, wiping the sweat off her face again, her thrashing had subsided. She was still sick though.

"I-I have to save him..." Padmé actually attempted to sit up, she was so dead set on saving this person, and Aeryn had an inkling as to who it could've been. Padmé struggled to sit up again, crying because of the pain both inside and out. "He's not safe. He needs me..." Padmé crumpled against Aeryn's body, clutching onto her. "He needs me..."

"No Evey. You can't save him. You have to stay here, you're not well. I'll take care of you, you'll be fine." Aeryn hugged Evey to her, stroking her hair. "Shh, it's alright. I'm here for you." Evey's body trembled beneath her arms, and her body was on fire. Her heart ached at the grief so evident in the girl's life.

"NO! I have to save him! HE NEEDS ME!" The blaze in Evey's eyes scared Aeryn. She suddenly was shoved backwards powerfully, by the girl. Evey stumbled towards the door and almost reached the it. An arm went around her waist, stopping her from going outside. She sobbed as she frantically reached for the door. _He needed her. She needed him._

"You don't understand!" She screamed, fighting against the arm.

Aeryn hauled Evey back onto her bed, staring her in the eyes.

"Evey, how do you propose saving him, if you're like THIS. You can barely walk on your own legs. You don't even know where you are. You can't save him until you get better, and you can't get better unless you stay here, with me. You are **my **responsibility, and I know how you feel. I know how strongly you want to save him, and you will, but not without my help. You need to get healthy first. You're sick with fever."

Padmé nodded weakly, sobbing, but softer. She continued to tremble, his face in her mind. She lay back on the bed, panting with the effort.

"I'm so, so tired.." She shivered uncontrollably, yet sweat was on her body. She covered herself with the blanket, squeezing her eyes shut, trying not to think about Obi-Wan getting tortured.

---

After the guard dumped him back into his cell, Obi-Wan laid back down. She'd kissed him. He didn't seem to realize that he'd kissed her and told her he loved her, or that she was gone, probably forever, or that he was going to die here. Just that she'd kissed him, and he was overfilled with happiness. He fell asleep easily with the thought of Padmé's kiss still fresh in his mind, but his second dream would snap him back to reality.

_//He woke up. There was a man in his cell, but he didn't care. Padmé was across the aisle from him. He so desparately wanted to shout 'I love you' to her, as she looked like she was on the verge of tears. She could've been crying before, he couldn't tell. Their conversation revolved around how they were going to get out of this. _

_A jail was no place for his beautiful Padmé. He had to get her out of here, so he agreed to take the blame. He was going to die anyway, and it'd be all the more worth dieing if Padmé got out alive. _

_She cried a lot. He wished she wouldn't cry again. Her eyes turned a different shade of brown, and he wished he would've never seen that shade, as she had to cry to achieve it. He promised himself to do anything in his power to never see that shade again. He claimed blame, and Padmé got away. Her accent and acting was amazing, though he liked her normal soothing voice._

_They were carried out, and Padmé looked on the verge of tears again. **'Please, please don't cry.'** he thought. He wished he could say everything would be ok. He could never lie to her. He stepped towards her and kissed her without even thinking, and whispered 'I love you.'. He'd waited so long to say that. So many nights contemplating how and when to say it, and it comes out that way, as a whisper in her ear._

_He was being pulled away from her and she cried. **'Say it back!'** he wanted to yell, **'Please...don't leave me not knowing.'//**_

The tapping of a sword against bars woke him. She hadn't said anything. Nothing at all, just cried. He put his head in his hands. "No.." He cried openly for the first time in a long time.

---

_Padmé's eyes suddenly snapped open as she felt something touch her right arm. She hissed in pain, tears quickly coming to her eyes again. Padmé shivered as she laid there, looking around. Aeryn was across the room, so what had touched her? It had felt like a hand. It was the delirium talking...yes...the delirium.._

_"You'll never see him again. You'll never save him. You're too weak, too pathetic." A man hissed, crushing her arm._

_"AERYN! HELP ME!" The healer ran over to her, a frown on her face._

_"What's wrong? Evey, what's wrong?" Aeryn quickly took in her wide eyes, and looked in the direction that Evey's eyes kept swiveling. She put her arms on Evey's shoulders when the girl cried out in pain._

_"Don't you see him? DON'T YOU SEE HIM?" Evey cried, looking at the man again, who was now behind Aeryn. Aeryn quickly turned out, seeing nothing. She tried to calm herself as she looked back to Evey._

_"Evey, there's nothing there! It's all in your mind!"_

_"WATCH OUT!" Padmé's cry came too late, the man had already picked up a tool and had thrusted it in Aeryn's head. Aeryn fell to the ground, blood pooling around her. Padmé couldn't stop screaming. She couldn't even move. She tried so hard to stop screaming. Aeryn's wide eyes stared back at her, her lifeless eyes, looking at her from the floor, as if accusing her of letting her get killed..._

Padmé's eyes snapped open as she felt someone shaking her awake. She stopped screaming, her mouth open, breathing hard. Her eyes immediately focused on the compassionate healer's face, looking down at her with great concern. Tears ran down Padmé's face as she clutched onto the healer's shirt weakly.

"You died. I saw you...there was a man..and he-he killed...you died."

Aeryn sat on the edge of the bed, hugging her, soothing her.

"It's alright Evey. It's fine You're here, I'm not dead."

"He...he said I wouldn't be able to save him...that I was too weak, too pathetic..." Padmé hiccuped, trying to stop crying. "I can't stand this, I just can't."

Aeryn soothed her hair.

"Shh, here," she gently eased Evey out of her grip. "I'll be right back to get you something to calm you down." She put some stuff together, stirring it in a tea cup. Aeryn sat beside Evey, helping her sit up. She gently put the cup in her hands.

"Here, drink this."

Padmé sipped from the cup, wincing at the bitter aftertaste. Her heart beat to it's regular pace, and suddenly she felt very tired. Her eyes slide closed, making no protest as Aeryn laid her on the bed again, asleep before her head hit the pillow.


	11. One Month and Three Years

**Confrontations at a Lake**

**Chapter Ten – One Month and Three Years **

**(A/N: Wow, July came and went, and here is finally the next chapter. I feel so ashamed of myself for having not updated earlier, but things got a bit complicated. Anyway, thanks in advance for those of you who do review, and for those of you who read this. Please at least leave a review, it makes my writers heart jump with joy. **

**P.S. I like to think that Palo looks like Christian Bale from the movie The New World (John Rolfe) go to www(dot)movie-page(dot)com(slash)temp(slash)tnw40(dot)jpg**

**One Month Later**

Padmé was almost completely healed a month later. Her injuries were no longer bothering her, much to her happiness, although she did frown upon the scars which had appeared, showing her, reminding her of her past, and how she had gotten them, although they did remind her of one thing. One thing, one person, who had changed her life forever, either for bad or good, she had yet to tell. The scars that she were most worried about were the one's on her right arm, for anyone could see them, and immediately want to ask why. She had healed surely, but slowly, with Aeryn's help. She had suffered every night with nightmares, always waking up in a sweat, tears on her cheeks, the nightmares still plaguing her. They were of either Aeryn, herself, or Obi-Wan dieing in some grotesque way. Sometimes she even pondered the thought of suicide, just to get away from the nightmares and terror, and heartbreak, but as if reading her mind, Aeryn had convinced her that she had much to live for, thus she was still here, helping Aeryn in her healings, ever since she herself had healed.

Padmé was attending a small boy who had the fever, when three soldiers of some kind burst in, one man being held by the other two, lacerations on his face and arms and legs. She could tell he was trying not to cry out in pain. She winced when she saw he also had a broken leg. She moved towards the soldiers the same time Aeryn did, her thoughts straying to Obi-Wan, her heart clenching as she hoped he was alive. She quickly got the stuff that she needed, as Aeryn asked the other soldiers what had happened.

"Wolves." One answered bluntly, his eyes straying to his friend on the cot.

Padmé's eyes widened at that word, and her hands trembled. An image of Obi-Wan on the ground being attacked by wolves as she struggled with the bow and arrows flashed through her mind, making her whole body tremble even more. She swallowed against the lump in her throat and moved towards the man in the cot, kneeling by him.

"I'm afraid that my friend and I cannot work with all these people in here. You must leave. He will be taken care of." Aeryn's voice reached her ears, as she stared at the man's face, his face red and puffy, blood was everywhere, she couldn't tell what he looked like before the attack. The men walked out reluctantly, and she wiped blood off his face, tears coming to her eyes as the man cried out in pain. She guessed he was a very handsome man, before the attack. She caught a glimpse of his eyes, before they were shut tight. Gray. He had gray eyes. Her hand trembled again. He had black hair, a strand falling onto his forehead as he moved his head.

"Who are they?" She looked at Aeryn as the healer knelled down beside her.

"They are soldiers from the Fighter's Guild. They protect the village from thieves and wolves, and any other thing like that. Not many come here, injured. They are very well trained, but once in a while, one does come. Such as this man here. I'm guessing he was new."

A flash of her wearing the same armour as those men, protecting the farmers, and village as those men did flashed in Padmé's mind, and suddenly she knew what she wanted to do.

"I want to join the Fighter's Guild."

Aeryn looked at her, shock evident in her eyes.

"Are you sure, my friend? There are not very women that have joined the Fighter's Guild, and those that have, well, let's just say it's been awhile since a woman has worn their armour."

Padmé's heart beat faster, as she continued to wipe blood from his face. She looked at Aeryn, determination in her eyes.

"Yes, I want to join. I want to do something that has a purpose, in my life. I'm not saying healing people doesn't have a purpose, far from it. What I am saying is...I am just not cut out to be a healer, and stick in one place for very long. I have been trained in swordsmanship and other weapons, all by my father, when he lived. I hope that you understand, and do know that I will visit you often. You are my only friend I have in this village, and I cherish our friendship. I will be leaving at the end of this week. I hope you do understand."

Aeryn smiled good-naturally, happiness showing in her eyes for her friend.

"Of course I understand. I just hope you come visit me, but not under blood and injuries," she said softly, hugging Evey, before they separated and continued to work on the soldier, who had passed out long ago, together.

--

Padmé hefted her pack on her back, her possessions (although there was not much) in that pack. She turned and smiled to her friend, giving her one last hug, before she would set out toward the Fighter's Guild.

"I'll miss you, and I pray to the Gods that you shall be safe," she whispered, separating from the hug.

"As will I. I'll be sitting here in my lonely little hut, tending to people, wondering what mischief you're getting yourself into." Aeryn said with a laugh.

Padmé waved one last time, a sad smile on her face, before she turned towards the village, the sun shining on her, making her look like an angel. She shifted the pack on her back, drew a breath, and set out for the Guild, determination straightening her body, and shining in her eyes, to all that looked at her.  
Aeryn stood at the doorway of her hut, a sad smile on her face as she watched her friend walk away, until she was just a tiny dot in the sea of people. She sighed and turned around, her hand on the doorway, and walked in, smiling at her patients.  
"So, who would like some cookies?"  
A chorus of laughter and several 'me's' sounded as the door shut with a soft thud.

**Three Years Later**

It had been three years since Padmé had joined the Fighter's Guild, and almost every day since than she had worn her armor, but not today. Today was just a leisurely stroll in the market, wearing a black cloak over her simple white ivy shirt, her pants, and black boots. Of course her short sword was strapped to her right side, she wasn't that stupid to have not come unarmed. And one dagger was strapped to her thigh, one was in her boot, safely hidden.You could trust no one here. Or rather, _she_ didn't trust anyone. Almost no one, anyway.

A smile came to her lips as she strolled through the market, until it would come time to meet Palo at his house. Palo, the man whom she was engaged to, the man she loved. Her eyes flickered to her right hand, where a ring was set on her fourth finger. It was a simple ring, nothing fancy. She hadn't expected anything fancy from Palo, even though he was quickly becoming famous with his paintings and all. Her eyes took in the sights around her and her heart beat with guilt. She still had to get over the feeling that she was somehow pushing Obi-Wan to the side, forgetting about him, after accepting Palo's proposal. As her eyes flickered over the castle infront of her, her thoughts dwindled to Obi-Wan Kenobi and if he even still remembered her.

---

It had been three years since Obi-Wan had been imprisoned. Every day was the same. Every day was torture. Every day was missing Padmé. Every day was wondering whether or not she loved him. Every day was loving _her_, no matter if she did or not. Every day were the nightmares. They never stopped. They were nightmares of what really happened. Sometimes they were nightmares of his own mind. Every day was seeing her face in his mind. Every day was remembering what she looked like when she slept. Every day was the same. Nothing changed. Except for this day. This day was different, and he knew it. He _felt_ it.

This day he was being dragged to his cell for the hundred thousandth time. He'd lost count long ago, and had lost track of days along with it. This particular guard seemed to not be as rough as the others, and he looked appalled at the sight of some of the men in the cells, all the pain they were going through. His grip wasn't as strong as the others. His sword was on his other hip, next to Obi-Wan. The younger man must be a lefty. Obi-Wan saw his chance, the once in a lifetime escape he'd been waiting for forever now. He stood up, and pulled the sword from it's sheath, pointing it at the extremely surprised man. He looked more like a boy now, and Obi-Wan didn't know if he could stand to kill him.

"I'm sorry," he croaked out. It had been months since his last words. He lead the man to his cell and lead him in.

"Be thankful I didn't kill you." Obi-Wan said, before grabbing the keys and locking the man in, and taking off down the hallway. He somehow managed to stay upright and moving. The next guard would be passing through in 20 minutes. He had a bit to sneak around and find an escape route before the alarm was raised. Slinking around some crates he searched for an open horse, or the stables. Anything easy to grab so he could get some distance between himself and the castle.

---

_**"I love you."**_Padmé remembered those three words he had spoken, the look in his eyes, the anguish which had shown on his face. Her jaw clenched and her eyes closed for a second, standing still, his face in her mind, but as soon as she opened her eyes, he was gone. She sighed in relief and kept on walking. She hadn't thought of him much over the past three years, and she wasn't about to start now. Certainly not now, she _**was**_ getting married in a week. Or was she just fooling herself? Did she really love Palo? Had she ever really loved Obi-Wan? She had changed over the years, had become a stronger person, emotionally and physically. She supposed she _had_ loved Obi-Wan, but her feelings had changed. She had become detached from her emotions, she had learned to never let her emotions control her, and so, along with detaching herself from her emotions, love had disappeared. Until she had met Palo. Did she really love him though? He was a sweet and kind man, and perhaps the kind of husband some girls would want. Padmé knew that much, she had seen the looks the village girls had given him. The question that kept nagging at her though was: Did _she _really want the kind of husband he would be? He certainly was rich, and he was becoming richer every day, as the king saw his new paintings. But, being rich wasn't the point, being kind and attentive was. He was kind and gentle with her, always respecting her decisions. He had never actually made her heart flutter in her chest with excitement like Obi-Wan had, though. Padmé frowned as she realized she was thinking about _him_ again.

Oh, who was she kidding? That first year, after Obi-Wan was imprisoned, she had thought of him, had worried about him, had loved him with everything in her, twenty-four/seven. She _had_ loved him, but what was the point in loving someone who she would never see again? It was time for her to 'get on the right track' as Obi-Wan had put it, so long ago.

---

Obi-Wan finally found the stables with five horses standing in their stalls. Only one stable boy was around. He'd have to knock him out to keep him quiet. Sneaking up on the boy, he knocked him over the head with the sword, and took the best looking horse out of it's stall. He lead it back the way he'd come, praying no one would see him with a horse, his prayers were answered. He reached the castle gate and saw it was opening for a knight to come in. Perfect. He mounted up into the saddle and stayed low, waiting for the knight to come in. Once he did he kicked the horse into a gallop, zooming out under the iron gate as it closed. Now they'd have to get the gate open before they could pursue him. He galloped through town towards the city walls, hoping he'd make it in time.

---

A smile formed on her lips and her heart beat accelerated as she saw Palo walking towards her, looking so handsome. They embraced, her arms going around his waist, his arms going around her waist. Palo hugged her to him, kissing her softly on the temple, a loving smile set on his handsome face. His long dark curly hair, which came down to his shoulders, moved in the wind. Padmé looked into his beautiful eyes and smiled. She went on her tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss, before snuggling against his chest again, inhaling his scent again.

"I missed you." She whispered, listening to his heartbeat. His chest rumbled as he laughed.

"I was only away for two days, Evey." His voice sent shivers down her spine, making her feel all tingly.

"I know, I counted the days." Palo's deep laughter interrupted her speech. She smacked him on the arm teasingly, before continuing. "It just felt like forever. It's been real lonely without you."

Palo kissed the top of her head, inhaling her intoxicating scent. He closed his eyes and simply held her, those two days had felt like years.

"I'm here now." He said softly, cupping her face with his hands, giving her his crooked 'insane' smile that she loved so much. He moved and held out his arm for her, glad when she threaded her arm and walked with him.

Suddenly an alarm sounded through the village. Padmé froze and stopped walking, her eyes searching through the chaos of people running to their homes. She gripped Palo's hand as people rushed past them almost knocking them down. They ran towards the castle as best as they could. Everyone knew what that alarm meant. As a member of the Fighter's Guild, it was part of her job to report there, every time they heard that alarm. It meant danger. It meant many things, but all she knew was that she was to be there as fast as possible, to hear the report of the incident. Oh why hadn't she worn her armor? Good thing they were at the Guild, instead of at her small house in the opposite direction.

---

"Shit..." Obi-Wan tried to stay calm. They had discovered he was missing earlier than expected. He galloped right past a couple standing in the street, apparently not rushing to their home. He swore the woman looked like Padmé, but he decided his eyes were playing tricks on him, and his heart would make anyone look like her. He tore through the quickly emptying streets. The Fighter's Guild members would be after him any minute and he had to head somewhere. Why hadn't he planned this out? He'd had more than enough time._Because you were thinking about a girl who doesn't even love you, moron._ His mind taunted him as he dodged a few people, going towards the city gates. He was almost there...He turned the corner to see them closing in. _No!_ He'd have to head to the main gate. He turned the horse towards the steps that lead up to the top walls where the guards walked and kept watch. The horse went up easily and he thanked the Gods he'd chosen a Fighter's horse. He hoped he'd make it to the main gate in time, it was much larger and harder to close.

---

Padmé gave Palo a quick kiss on the lips before she ran off to the Guild. She quickly struggled to put on her armor and get on her horse. His name was Comet. Yes, Comet. That man that had ridden past them...he had looked familiar...

She quickly shrugged off that feeling and spurred Comet into a gallop and headed into the direction the other Fighters had gone. Much thanks to Comet she quickly caught up to them, and quickly passed them all, keeping a sharp eye on the fugitive in front of her.

Obi-Wan was still riding up on the wall, galloping past extremely surprised guards, and quickly got to the main gate, and went down the steps there, dashing out the halfway shut door, not seeing the fighters behind him. Padmé continued to pursue the man, feeling alive. This is what she lived for. As she followed him she tried to figure out a plan to cut him off.

Obi-Wan raced through the forest. He could hear hoofbeats not too far behind him, but far enough. He zigzagged in the forest, creating a random pattern that was getting him deeper and deeper into the forest. He'd been through this forest thousands of times before and he knew where he was going. Maybe the Fighters didn't.

Padmé smirked as she followed the zigzag path. She knew this forest like the back of her hand, and she knew that they were coming up to a part where no horses could go. She knew she would have to go on foot.

He, like the knight, knew the dense part of the forest where horses couldn't navigate. He took a hard right, going to get around that spot in the forest. He didn't want to go on foot, he knew he wouldn't be able to run for very long.

Padmé continued to follow the man, knowing where he was going. She sighed when he took a hard right. He obviously knew this forest well, but not as well as she knew it. He was heading straight for the kind of place he was trying to avoid. Land where horses couldn't navigate. She hoped he knew it wasn't there, as she continued to pursue him, urging Comet faster.

Obi-Wan smiled. This should be an easy getaway. Only three were following him from the previous six. He turned at the spot his secret escape route used to be, and his heart plummeted down to his stomach as he only saw trees and shrubbery. He knew this used to be the spot...Obi-Wan dismounted, grabbed the sword, smacked the horse on the hindquarters, not wanting to leave a trace of the spot he'd gotten off. He ducked into the jungle as the horse galloped away.

This was insane. _Absolutely_ insane.


End file.
